Protecting Acres Prevents Fires
22
We have all heard about the fires ravaging the Amazon , the world ’ s largest , most biodiverse forest . Left to their own devices , intact rainforests — where humidity can reach 88 % and yearly rainfall can equal up to 400 inches — do not easily burn .
So , why so many fires ? The answer is deforestation , the process by which workers first harvest valuable timber then burn the remaining vegetation to make way for crops like soy and oil palm plantations or for cattle grazing . The tropics — including Brazil , Democratic Republic of the Congo and Indonesia — lost more than 27.4 million acres of tree cover in 2021 , with nearly 9.3 million acres of that loss occurring in tropical primary rainforests that are especially important for biodiversity and carbon storage .
Stopping deforestation through the creation of legal protected areas significantly reduces the risk of forest fires . Last year , Rainforest Trust , in partnership with Fundación Natura Bolivia and an alliance of Indigenous communities , protected over 2.2 million acres of eastern Bolivia ’ s Bajo Paraguá forest . With our support , local residents were equipped and trained to fight fires at the edge of the deforestation frontier . As a result , there were 65 % fewer fires detected in 2021 compared to 2020 .
In Madagascar , Rainforest Trust supported our partner Malagasy Institut pour la Conservation des Ecosystèmes Tropicaux ( MICET ) in creating 13.6 miles of firebreaks around the proposed 3,460-acre Ivohiboro Protected Area . Working with MICET , 1,700 villagers dug wide strips of bare soil to prevent fires burning outside from impacting this forest . Intentionally started fires here are easily exacerbated during droughts . Despite drought conditions , burning was minimized by the firebreaks .
While no fire prevention can boast 100 % success , legally protecting land does limit the risk of fire by stopping illegal deforestation . Combined with fire-fighting tools and training that empowers local residents , forests are much more fire-safe .
TOP : FOREST FIRE IN CAMEROON BY JAN MASTNIK / SHUTTERSTOCK ; LEFT : ABURNED PEAT FIELD IN BORNEO BY THOMMY TFH / SHUTTERSTOCK