Amazonas and Federal Government prepare infrastructure to combat Amazon wildfires
10 de July de 2025
By Ana Cláudia Leocádio – From Cenarium
BRASÍLIA (DF) – The Government of Amazonas and the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MMA) are preparing the infrastructure to tackle the Amazon’s dry season, which brings a sharp increase in wildfire outbreaks from July to November. Strategies range from the creation of 16 state fire brigades to the establishment of environmental governance offices to support mayors and municipal environmental secretariats in monitoring the territory.
After a meeting with Environment Minister Marina Silva on Tuesday, July 8, in Brasília, Amazonas governor Wilson Lima stated that the state is in the process of expanding the number of firefighters and assembling brigades in 16 priority municipalities—those with the highest concentration of forest fires, both in the southern region of the state and in the metropolitan area of Manaus. The resources come from a partnership with the federal government.
“We’ve already assembled six brigades, we’re delivering those large trucks with a capacity of up to 10,000 liters, building stations, and deploying both military firefighters and brigadiers. By the end of August or early September at the latest, we’ll have completed the setup of these 16 integrated teams of brigadiers and firefighters in the countryside,” said the governor.
Data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) show that Amazonas recorded 21,600 forest fires in 2024 alone—the worst year for fire outbreaks since 1988, when the historical series began.
The MMA’s Extraordinary Secretary for Deforestation Control and Environmental Land Management, André Rodolfo Lima, stated that—unlike last year, when emergency multi-agency operations were set up in southern Amazonas to fight rampant fires—this year the government is installing environmental governance offices so that local officials can monitor what is happening in their territories.
These offices will be equipped with daily satellite imagery, motorboats, pickup trucks, high-performance computers with satellite internet, and consultants available to assist regional administrators. “So they can know, in real time, what’s happening in terms of land use and occupation,” he explained.
Lima also highlighted a R$45 million investment that will be directed to seven priority municipalities that have joined the Union with Municipalities Program. Minister Marina Silva is scheduled to visit Amazonas on August 12 and 13 to sign off on the resource transfer to local officials, according to governor Wilson Lima.
According to the MMA secretary, the funds—sourced from the Amazon Fund—will go toward land and environmental regularization, technical assistance, payments for environmental services, sustainable agroforestry restoration, and support for the regularization of small-scale farmers in the region. The initiatives are expected to benefit 1,400 family farmers with environmental compliance and collectively regularize 90 traditional communities in the region.
Partnership ensures funding
In total, 81 municipalities have already joined the Union with Municipalities Program. In March of this year, the MMA, UNDP, and the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (Funbio) signed a R$61 million Partnership Agreement (RPA) to implement Governance Offices for Deforestation Monitoring in 70 municipalities across the Amazon.
In Amazonas alone, ten municipalities are eligible to join the program: Apuí, Boca do Acre, Canutama, Humaitá, Itapiranga, Lábrea, Manaus, Manicoré, Maués, and Novo Aripuanã. Of these, only Lábrea, Manaus, and Novo Aripuanã have yet to join the federal initiative.
According to André Lima, the deforestation challenges faced in the southern region of Amazonas are due to the sharp increase in land speculation, driven by rising land values in areas where the state is unable to enforce land regularization—creating fertile ground for illegal occupation. Without official land titles, producers in these areas are barred from accessing loans and technical support, for example.