Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is partially backtracking on a decree that banned most fires for land-clearing for 60 days, now saying the ban will only apply to the Amazon region.
The government on Friday published a decree saying fires for agriculture outside the Amazon region would be allowed with authorization from state environmental authorities. A day earlier, it published a ban on such fires nationwide in response to an international outcry over fires in the Amazon.
WATCH: Smoke rises above Amazon as new wildfires leave path of devastation
Brazil’s National Space Research Institute says fires have increased about 80% in Brazil this year when compared to the same period last year. A little over half those fires are in the Amazon.
The European Space Agency’s Copernicus satellite program showed smoke from the Amazon fires reaching Brazil’s southeast coast, thousands of kilometres away.