Fire is used as a tool in forest conversion. This is done by small farmers as well as large agro-industrial companies. Government officials are tracking down those responsible for the fires, but they have little money and only six helicopters to cover the whole of central Brazil. A plane on loan from the United States, loaded with digital cameras and thermal sensors flew in Wednesday to provide exact data on areas devastated by fires and illegal logging, even when visibility is low due to smoke. The action came in response to the biggest forest fire ever in Brazil in the State of Roraima in March 1998.
Brazilian farmers plant on burned over land.
But the government campaign highlighting the dangers of setting unsupervised fires during the dry season has been ignored by most people. In Bolivia, a rural celebration meant to prepare the land for next year's harvest triggered fires across two provinces. With winds gusting at 100 kilometres per hour, the fire spread quickly across 100,000 hectares. Nearly 3,000 people are sleeping in makeshift shelters, suffering from cold and hunger. All Rights Reserved.