「息をするのも大変」　アマゾン森林火災でＰＭ２．５高濃度に

【ポルトべリョＡＦＰ＝時事】アマゾン熱帯雨林に囲まれたブラジル・ロンドニア州ポルトべリョはここ数日、森林火災による濃い煙で覆われている。（写真はブラジル・ロンドニア州ポルトべリョ）
　ボリビア国境に程近い、人口約４６万人のポルトべリョでは２０日、微小粒子状物質（ＰＭ２．５）濃度が１立方メートル当たり５６．５マイクログラムに上った。これは世界保健機関（ＷＨＯ）が推奨する上限の１１倍で、国内の大都市中最悪の数値となった。
　世界の大気汚染を監視するウェブサイト「ＩＱエア」によると、今月１４日には１立方メートル当たり２４６．４マイクログラムという「危険な」数値が記録された。
　住民からは「息をするのも大変」「本当にひどい。真夜中に目がチクチクして目が覚めた」といった、不快な環境について嘆く声が上がっている。
　ブラジル国立宇宙研究所（ＩＮＰＥ）の衛星データによると、ロンドニア州では７月、１６１８件の森林火災が確認された。これは過去１９年間で最多だった。
　今月に入ってからは、すでに２１１４件が確認されている。
　またＩＮＰＥによると、アマゾン全体では年初から８月１９日までに４万２０００件以上の森林火災が記録されており、過去２０年近くで最多となっている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/08/22-17:11）

Residents of Porto Velho in the Brazilian Amazon have barely seen sunlight in days as a thick cloud of smoke from forest fires envelops their city.
We are struggling to breathe, said 30-year-old teacher Tayane Moraes, one of some 460,000 people who live in the city near the border with Bolivia.
On Tuesday, the concentration of cancer-causing microparticles known as PM2.5 reached 56.5 micrograms per cubic meter of air in Porto Velho -- 11 times more than the limit recommended by the World Health Organization and the worst of Brazil's big cities.
Inhaling PM2.5 has been found to increase the risk of lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and a range of other health problems.
On August 14, the level was a dangerous 246.4 micrograms per cubic meter, according to the IQAir monitoring company.
It can be difficult to escape the smoke, even at home.
It's terrible, yesterday I woke up at midnight and my eyes were tingling because of this smoke entering my house, 62-year-old retiree Carlos Fernandes told AFP.
The government of Rondonia state believes illegal fires, often started by farmers clearing land, are one cause of the disaster and has launched an online campaign calling on the population to report them.
- Historic drought -
According to data collected by satellites of Brazil's INPE Space Research Institute, Rondonia has just had its worst month of July for forest fires in 19 years with 1,618 confirmed outbreaks.
So far in August, there have been 2,114.
The Amazon as a whole has recorded more than 42,000 forest fires from January 1 to August 19, according to the INPE, the worst number in nearly two decades.
That number was 87 percent higher than in the same period of 2023.
The Amazon suffered a historic drought between June and November last year.
INPE's satellite images show a plume of smoke crossing Brazil from north to south, also passing through neighbors Bolivia and Paraguay.
State authorities insist much of the smoke enveloping Porto Velho, its capital, comes from fires in Bolivia, to the west, and the neighboring state of Amazonas, to the north.
Because we are in the center of the continent, the smoke stays longer here, Cae Aires of the CENSIPAM Amazon protection center said in a video published on the Instagram account of Rondonia governor Marcos Rocha.
In the same video, infectious disease specialist Antonieta Ferreira reported an increase in asthma attacks, as well as cases of pneumonia or sinusitis among patients at a children's hospital.
It's complicated with all this smoke, especially for those who have breathing problems, sighed Beatriz Graca, a 35-year-old homemaker in Porto Velho.
Forest fires have increased even as deforestation -- which helps reduce global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide -- is on the wane.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pledged to put a stop to illegal deforestation of the Amazon by 2030.
The practice had dramatically worsened under his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.