Environment Institute Says Fire Destroyed Less Amazon Than Feared
6/18/98
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Title: Environment Institute Says Fire Destroyed Less Amazon Than Feared
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 6/18/98
BRASILIA, June 18 (Reuters) - Fires that ravaged Brazil's northern Amazon for
three months this year may have destroyed far less rainforest than initially
feared, Brazil's Environment Institute (IBAMA) said on Thursday.
IBAMA president Eduardo Martins said the government estimated that only 4,350
square miles (7,000 square km) were wiped out in the blaze, a swath of land
more than twice the size of Luxembourg.
The figure may provide little solace to government officials, who were blasted
for a perceived slow response to the fires. However, it is much less than
earlier estimates of 11,583 square miles (30,000 square km).
``Clearly we were unprepared for this crisis,'' Martins said.
``But thinking back, you never saw footage of trees in the rainforest
burning.''
He said the fires mainly destroyed savanna and transition forest in Brazil's
northern state of Roraima. But when flames penetrated the jungle's core, they
principally burned forest undergrowth, leaving most trees intact. Martins said
a final figure would be published in late July.
It took nearly two months for the Brazilian government to respond to appeals
for help from Roraima, eventually sending 1,500 firemen and soldiers to the
remote frontier state.
Before that, an ill-equipped team flapped at flames with brooms and branches,
backed up by four helicopters lent by Argentina.
When offers of wider international help were made, they were initially rejected
by the armed forces, which have long dreaded foreign intervention in the
Amazon. In the end, freak rainstorms saved Roraima from greater damage.
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