Government data showed that fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest increased in the month of September, making it already the worst month in more than a decade since an election year deforestation surge.

The National Institute for Space Research in Brazil has recorded 36,850 fires in the region since the beginning of this month, up 120 percent from the same month last year, making it the worst in any month since September 2010, when the institute recorded 43,933 fires. .

This brings the total number of fires since the beginning of this year to 82,872, exceeding the 75,090 fires recorded in all of 2021.

Fires in the Amazon tend to peak in August and September, the region’s fire season when there is less rainfall, allowing ranchers and farmers to frequently set fire to deforested areas.

According to 1998 National Institute for Space Research satellite data, the number of fires this month already exceeded the September average of 32,110 fires.

Deforestation in Brazil’s rainforests often increases during election years, when enforcement typically declines and loggers rush to implement their plans before a possible shift in conservation policy occurs.