Humans are likely the cause of fires in the Amazon that have swept the region and prompted anti-government protests as well as an international outcry, environmentalists told CNN.
Ninety-nine percent of the fires result from human action, “either on purpose or by accident,” said Alberto Setzer, a senior scientist at Brazil's space research center INPE.
CNN meteorologist Haley Brink says the fires are “definitely human-induced” and pointed to the agricultural practice of using fire to clear land.
"It's the best time to burn because the vegetation is dry,” she said. “[Farmers] wait for the dry season and they start burning and clearing the areas so that their cattle can graze. And that's what we're suspecting is going on down there."
Lincoln Muniz Alves, a researcher at INPE’s Earth System Science Centre, told CNN fires started by humans are very difficult to stop.
"Because the use of fire is a traditional part of tropical agriculture to clean agricultural land, grazing land, it is very difficult to stop it," Alves said in an email.
Many people blame Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for the damage, saying he has neglected commitments to protect biodiversity and encouraged farmers, loggers and ranchers to burn the rainforest.
Fires are "just the most visible symptom" of Bolsonaro's policies, and "reflect the irresponsibility of the president," the Observatorio do Clima (Climate Observatory) said in a statement last week.
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