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Narrator
As the Amazon burns, the smoke poisons its people.
Brazil has laws that are meant to protect the rainforest, but since President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019, enforcement of those laws has been negligible.
And destruction of the Amazon rainforest has surged to levels unseen in a decade.
During his first year government data reveals an increase of 85% in forest loss.
Fires in the Amazon’s verdant rainforests are not a natural phenomenon.
Deforestation is followed by fires deliberately set by people looking to clear the land for agriculture, cattle-grazing and real estate speculation, among others.
Colonel Paulo Barroso
Executive Secretary of Mato Grosso state’s Fire Committee
“Experiencing fires here in the Amazon region is something you can’t forget. You feel the air is dense. The impact is general: it's fauna, flora, it's human. Everyone suffers.”
Narrator
In the last 35 years more than half a million square kilometres of rainforest have been razed, most of it illegally. A Human Rights Watch investigation uncovered how the state is letting criminal mafias get away with destroying the rainforest. And the repercussions have been disastrous.
In 2019, more than 5,500 square kilometres were burned. By April 2020, there were already a total of 4,500 square kilometres of deforested land that could be burned during this dry season. And despite the government claiming they were now clamping down, the razing and fires continue.
The smoke from burning forests contains a mixture of toxic pollutants, including fine particulate matter known as PM 2.5, which can penetrate the lung barrier and enter the bloodstream.
Our research estimated 2,195 hospitalizations for respiratory illnesses in 2019 were associated with exposure to these toxic pollutants from the fires. These included more than a thousand patients aged 60 or above, and almost 500 infants under one.
Doctors fear the patients they see are just a tiny fraction of those falling seriously ill from the fires.
Indigenous people in Brazil are particularly affected by the fires and often live far from medical care.
Kari Guajajara
Lawyer, Araribóia Indigenous Territory
“we need to start thinking a little more powerfully about how these processes that affect the Amazon reflect on the lives of the inhabitants."
Narrator
Covid-19 makes the situation even more dangerous. Brazil’s health system is already struggling to cope with the Covid19 pandemic and doctors say the fire season will endanger even more people .
Dr. Hermano Albuquerque de Castro
Director of Brazil's National School of Public Health (ENSP)
“If a person is affected by the fire’s smoke and it affects his or her respiratory illness, this person is forced to go to a hospital, which is already strangled. You put at risk people who have a simple case of bronchitis. A lot of people, who didn't have Covid-19, go to the hospitals and get infected."
Narrator
These devastating effects can be prevented. Authorities should stop the deforestation and fires that are at the source of the toxic haze. And they need to take action now to protect the rainforest and to enforce safe air quality standards to protect the lives and health of millions in the Amazon region.
（巴西利亞）- 亞馬遜環境研究所（IPAM）、健康政策研究所（IEPS）和人權觀察今天發表報告指出，不受約束的人為毀林導致森林大火，正在毒化數百萬人賴以呼吸的空氣，影響整個巴西亞馬遜地區的人類健康。前述機構表示，亞馬遜地區的火災和砍伐數量在2019年——即總統博索納羅上任第一年——急劇增加，並已證實在2020年繼續惡化。
這份50頁的報告，《「這種空氣無法忍受」：巴西亞馬遜地區人為毀林火災對健康的影響》，利用官方發佈的健康與環境監測數據作出估計，2019年有2,195個呼吸道疾病住院病例可歸因於火災。其中近500例是未滿周歲嬰兒，超過1,000例是60歲以上病患。這些住院病例只是火災對健康影響的冰山一角，2019年有數百萬人因與森林砍伐有關的亞馬遜大火而暴露於有害水平的空氣污染中。
「在巴西有效遏制森林砍伐之前，大火將年年持續，持續破壞亞馬遜森林，毒化數百萬巴西人呼吸的空氣，」人權觀察巴西部主任瑪麗亞・勞拉・加尼紐（Maria Laura Canineu）說。「博索納羅政府迄今未能解決這一環境危機，不僅直接影響亞馬遜居民的健康，也將造成全球氣候變化的長期後果。」
亞馬遜雨林不會自然起火。是人們在（通常是非法的）砍伐後故意縱火，清理土地以供農業、放牧或土地投機用途。縱火行為通常在八月或九月達到高峰。
火災帶來的煙霧含有大量微小顆粒，這種污染物與呼吸道和心血管疾病以及新生兒夭折有關。兒童、老人、孕婦和心肺疾病患者尤其易受傷害。
這份報告對健康影響的評估，包含對住院治療、森林砍伐、火災和空氣質量等官方數據進行統計分析，特別是與亞馬遜森林大火密切相關的污染物的存在。火災造成的住院平均持續3天，總住院日數近7,000天。
這項評估也基於對67位醫護人員、官員與專家的訪談。他們說，火災的影響遠遠超出了住院治療，因為許多因煙霧致病的患者無法到達醫療機構，還有許多人的呼吸道症狀儘管嚴重但不需住院。
「越小的孩子情況越糟，」一家兒童醫院副院長針對原本患有疾病的兒童說。「早產兒和使用呼吸器的嬰兒特別容易受到傷害。」
該報告發現，在2019年8月，亞馬遜地區有90個城市、近300萬人曝露於超過世界衛生組織建議閾值的有害空氣污染水平。9月更增加到168個城市、450萬人。
非法砍伐森林和隨後的火災經常發生在原住民族領域內外，有時會破壞他們的作物，消耗庫存的糧食、藥草和獵獲物，並且損害健康。
醫療人員和官員擔心，已經因為2020年新冠肺炎大流行而超載的醫療機構，將進一步面臨收治火災病患的壓力，可能導致亞馬遜部分地區的醫療系統崩潰。煙霧也可能加劇新冠肺炎症狀，導致更多重症和死亡病例。
「當局應採取更多措施來解決這一長期且可預防的公共衛生危機，」IEPS主任拉戈（Miguel Lago）說。「政府應該實施有效的空氣質量監測機制並執行空氣質量標準，通過預防性和應對性的政策維護健康，並特別關注弱勢群體。」
自博索納羅於2019年1月上任以來，他的政府破壞了巴西環境部門，並試圖削弱對保護區和原住民領域的限制。根據巴西DETER衛星監測系統的保守估計，在他就職的第一年內，森林砍伐增加了百分之85。第二年，森林破壞持續全速前進。
根據巴西具有法律拘束力的《國家氣候變化政策》，政府承諾到2020年將每年的總體毀林率降至3,925平方公里。然而，今年才到7月底就已有4,700平方公里遭到砍伐。
有許多理由可以預期，今年亞馬遜的火勢將更加猛烈。到今年4月，新砍伐的森林面積加上2019年被清理但未焚燒的區域，總計已達4,509平方公里，很可能在今年乾季付之一炬。今年7月被偵測到的火災就比去年同期多了百分之28。
博索納羅企圖淡化眼前的危機。在8月11日的一場會議上，博索納羅對南美各國領導人說：「他們不會找到任何一點火星，也不會找到任何一片森林被砍伐。」儘管政府本身的官方數據與他的說法背道而馳。
相對地，副總統莫朗（HamiltonMourão）在8月10日表示，政府已派員執行「遏止毀林和大火的緊急措施」。作為因應各界責難而成立的亞馬遜理事會（Amazon Council）主席，莫朗一再動用軍隊進行環境執法。這些行動的有效性微乎其微，2020年的森林砍伐與火警偵測數量仍持續攀升。
該報告指出，博索納羅政府頒佈了一項命令，禁止在今年旱季焚燒森林，但若不加強執法，禁令的作用可能很有限。
「聯邦政府有義務保護亞馬遜及其原居民構成的獨特生態系統，但是對雨林的加速破壞正將我們推向無法復原的臨界點，對巴西經濟和全球氣候變遷將造成不可逆轉的後果，」亞馬遜環境研究所主任紀馬雷斯（André Guimarães）說。「聯邦政府必須在最短時間內確保所有環境執法機構的有效協調，才能避免這場災難。」
更多內容詳見英文版。
