<p>Amazon forest fires in Brazil increased by 19.5 percent in June compared to the same month last year, making it the worst June in 13 years, authorities revealed on Wednesday.</p>.<p>June marks the start of the dry period and there were 2,248 recorded fires, leaving analysts expecting a worse year for the rainforest than the devastating 2019, which provoked anger throughout the world.</p>.<p>The National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which follows fire alerts in real-time on its website, has not recorded as many fires in June since reporting more than 3,500 in 2007.</p>.<p>The worst is expected in August. Last year there were more than 30,000 fires that month, a threefold increase on the same month in 2018.</p>.<p>Most forest fires in the Amazon are caused by arson and are directly linked to deforestation, often caused by crop farmers for cultivation.</p>.<p>Deforestation in Brazil was very high this year before the dry season even began, with more than 2,000 square kilometres lost between January and May, a 34 percent increase on the same period in 2019, according to INPE.</p>.<p>The Amazon environmental research institute estimates that 9,000 square kilometres of jungle already cut down since last year could go up in flames before August begins.</p>.<p>Ecologists have accused far-right President Jair Bolsonaro -- a notorious climate change sceptic -- of promoting deforestation by calling for the legalization of farming and mining activities in protected zones.</p>.<p>Specialists also believe an increase in forest fires could increase breathing difficulties in a population already badly hit by the novel coronavirus.</p>
<p>Amazon forest fires in Brazil increased by 19.5 percent in June compared to the same month last year, making it the worst June in 13 years, authorities revealed on Wednesday.</p>.<p>June marks the start of the dry period and there were 2,248 recorded fires, leaving analysts expecting a worse year for the rainforest than the devastating 2019, which provoked anger throughout the world.</p>.<p>The National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which follows fire alerts in real-time on its website, has not recorded as many fires in June since reporting more than 3,500 in 2007.</p>.<p>The worst is expected in August. Last year there were more than 30,000 fires that month, a threefold increase on the same month in 2018.</p>.<p>Most forest fires in the Amazon are caused by arson and are directly linked to deforestation, often caused by crop farmers for cultivation.</p>.<p>Deforestation in Brazil was very high this year before the dry season even began, with more than 2,000 square kilometres lost between January and May, a 34 percent increase on the same period in 2019, according to INPE.</p>.<p>The Amazon environmental research institute estimates that 9,000 square kilometres of jungle already cut down since last year could go up in flames before August begins.</p>.<p>Ecologists have accused far-right President Jair Bolsonaro -- a notorious climate change sceptic -- of promoting deforestation by calling for the legalization of farming and mining activities in protected zones.</p>.<p>Specialists also believe an increase in forest fires could increase breathing difficulties in a population already badly hit by the novel coronavirus.</p>