In The Amazon's Fire Season, 'You Either Burn Or You Starve'

By Lourdes Garcia-Navarro / NPR

Published November 4, 2015 at 10:51 PM PST

This story was published more than 9 years ago.

In the 1970s, the Brazilian government declared the Amazon open for settlement. Rondonia became like Oklahoma during the land rush. The poor and dispossessed of other Brazilian states were encouraged to move in. Quickly, trees gave way to farms and cattle ranches. Deforestation in this part of Brazil now happens in quick phases, where the land is cleared, burned, and readied for cattle to graze.

In the western state of Rondonia, a patch of the forest burns near a small farm.

This caretaker of a small farm outside Porto Velho says he is burning his boss's land to make it better for the cattle.

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Farmers like Amado Pedro da Silva, 63, who owns a small farm, believe you don't have to burn the land. When nearby farmers set fires, they inevitably spread and da Silva loses valuable crops like this pineapple field that was destroyed. "If you live with the land, the land will protect you," he says. "If you poison it, the land will attack you."

Deforestation in this part of Brazil happens in phases. Once the area has been cleared of its valuable wood, people move in. The rest of the land is then burned so it can be used for cattle, and then eventually for farming.

An aerial view of Rondonia, near its capital Porto Velho during the "burning season," shows how small fires run up next to the forest, where they can go out of control, burning crops and virgin forest alike.

They call it the "burning season" in the Amazon, and when we arrive in Brazil's western state of Rondonia, it's on fire.

A thick, acrid smoke permeates everything, making it difficult to see. Fire, people say in Rondonia, is part of the culture of the state: the ash from the burned trees is the only way to make the land fertile, argue some. Others say fires are also started to simply clear land for cattle. Or to make space to build a house. Fire allows people to eke a living off the land in the rain forest.

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Except it's an ecological and human disaster. The smoke causes respiratory problems. The fires often rage uncontrolled. They burn crops and virgin forest alike. They are also being used more often.

These man-made fires are up 30 percent from last year.

Among those burning their land to survive is Dona Maria Matara, a subsistence farmer.

She calls her purple home "the house at the end of the world." She lives in an isolated community of small farms on the edge of the forest. She says you have two choices in the Amazon: "You either burn or you starve."

This is how the forest gets eaten away today — the poor, like Dona Matara, are pushing civilization deeper into the wilderness, destroying the trees we all need.

Dona Matara is a deforester, but she is not a villain. You can listen to her story below.