In this Article, Sofia Valle explains the damaging effects of the Pantanal fires in Brazil and how you can help.
There is a common practice in Brazil called "queimadas". Basically, big farmers and cow owners set fire on forests to make space for their agropecuary. This leads to loss of biodiversity, defertilization of the soil and native Brazilians being taken away from their homes. The past month has been really difficult for us. Pantanal, one of our most rich biomes: home to 263 species of fish, 122 mammals, 93 reptiles, 656 birds and 1.032 butterflies, is burning down as you read this. It is also home for the native tribe Guató, who has been struggling to protect their areas from big farmers, and are losing their homes to the fire right now. More than 870 thousand acres of our land have burned. The amount of fires have increased by 1800% since last year. Onças, capivaras, tucanos, papagaios and much more are trying to run away from the fire, but are incapable. The onças (a type of Jaguar that only exists in Brazil and are already almost extinct) are getting their paws burned and most of the time dying on their way out of the fire. The birds are inhaling so much smoke that kills them because of intoxication. ten percent of the Pantanal is already one. Our President, Jair Bolsonaro, has been ineffective earlier this year and last year when dealing with environmental problems. Our minister of the environment has said in march, that: "I will take this chance to 'make things easier' for our farmers. You know? Deregulate all of this bureaucracy, making things simpler". This means that our government isn't interested on saving the Pantanal. We have to protect the Pantanal. We have to take action.
Please, sign these petitions:
If you have the means to, please donate. The Brazilian currency (the "Real") does not have much value. If you donate one dollar, you are actually donating almost six reais. It is a lot. Here are some places that need the money to save the animals and combat the fire:
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