阅读这支影片的文字描述
Narrator
As the Amazon burns, the smoke poisons its people.
Brazil has laws that are meant to protect the rainforest, but since President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019, enforcement of those laws has been negligible.
And destruction of the Amazon rainforest has surged to levels unseen in a decade.
During his first year government data reveals an increase of 85% in forest loss.
Fires in the Amazon’s verdant rainforests are not a natural phenomenon.
Deforestation is followed by fires deliberately set by people looking to clear the land for agriculture, cattle-grazing and real estate speculation, among others.
Colonel Paulo Barroso
Executive Secretary of Mato Grosso state’s Fire Committee
“Experiencing fires here in the Amazon region is something you can’t forget. You feel the air is dense. The impact is general: it's fauna, flora, it's human. Everyone suffers.”
Narrator
In the last 35 years more than half a million square kilometres of rainforest have been razed, most of it illegally. A Human Rights Watch investigation uncovered how the state is letting criminal mafias get away with destroying the rainforest. And the repercussions have been disastrous.
In 2019, more than 5,500 square kilometres were burned. By April 2020, there were already a total of 4,500 square kilometres of deforested land that could be burned during this dry season. And despite the government claiming they were now clamping down, the razing and fires continue.
The smoke from burning forests contains a mixture of toxic pollutants, including fine particulate matter known as PM 2.5, which can penetrate the lung barrier and enter the bloodstream.
Our research estimated 2,195 hospitalizations for respiratory illnesses in 2019 were associated with exposure to these toxic pollutants from the fires. These included more than a thousand patients aged 60 or above, and almost 500 infants under one.
Doctors fear the patients they see are just a tiny fraction of those falling seriously ill from the fires.
Indigenous people in Brazil are particularly affected by the fires and often live far from medical care.
Kari Guajajara
Lawyer, Araribóia Indigenous Territory
“we need to start thinking a little more powerfully about how these processes that affect the Amazon reflect on the lives of the inhabitants."
Narrator
Covid-19 makes the situation even more dangerous. Brazil’s health system is already struggling to cope with the Covid19 pandemic and doctors say the fire season will endanger even more people .
Dr. Hermano Albuquerque de Castro
Director of Brazil's National School of Public Health (ENSP)
“If a person is affected by the fire’s smoke and it affects his or her respiratory illness, this person is forced to go to a hospital, which is already strangled. You put at risk people who have a simple case of bronchitis. A lot of people, who didn't have Covid-19, go to the hospitals and get infected."
Narrator
These devastating effects can be prevented. Authorities should stop the deforestation and fires that are at the source of the toxic haze. And they need to take action now to protect the rainforest and to enforce safe air quality standards to protect the lives and health of millions in the Amazon region.
（巴西利亚）- 亚马逊环境研究所（IPAM）、健康政策研究所（IEPS）和人权观察今天发表报告指出，不受约束的人为毁林导致森林大火，正在毒化数百万人赖以呼吸的空气，影响整个巴西亚马逊地区的人类健康。前述机构表示，亚马逊地区的火灾和砍伐数量在2019年——即总统博索纳罗上任第一年——急剧增加，并已证实在2020年继续恶化。
这份50页的报告，《‘这种空气无法忍受’：巴西亚马逊地区人为毁林火灾对健康的影响》，利用官方发布的健康与环境监测数据作出估计，2019年有2,195个呼吸道疾病住院病例可归因于火灾。其中近500例是未满周岁婴儿，超过1,000例是60岁以上病患。这些住院病例只是火灾对健康影响的冰山一角，2019年有数百万人因与森林砍伐有关的亚马逊大火而暴露于有害水平的空气污染中。
“在巴西有效遏制森林砍伐之前，大火将年年持续，持续破坏亚马逊森林，毒化数百万巴西人呼吸的空气，” 人权观察巴西部主任玛丽亚・劳拉・加尼纽（Maria Laura Canineu）说。 “博索纳罗政府迄今未能解决这一环境危机，不仅直接影响亚马逊居民的健康，也将造成全球气候变化的长期后果。”
亚马逊雨林不会自然起火。是人们在（通常是非法的）砍伐后故意纵火，清理土地以供农业、放牧或土地投机用途。纵火行为通常在八月或九月达到高峰。
火灾带来的烟雾含有大量微小颗粒，这种污染物与呼吸道和心血管疾病以及新生儿夭折有关。儿童、老人、孕妇和心肺疾病患者尤其易受伤害。
这份报告对健康影响的评估，包含对住院治疗、森林砍伐、火灾和空气质量等官方数据进行统计分析，特别是与亚马逊森林大火密切相关的污染物的存在。火灾造成的住院平均持续3天，总住院日数近7,000天。
这项评估也基于对67位医护人员、官员与专家的访谈。他们说，火灾的影响远远超出了住院治疗，因为许多因烟雾致病的患者无法到达医疗机构，还有许多人的呼吸道症状尽管严重但不需住院。
“越小的孩子情况越糟，” 一家儿童医院副院长针对原本患有疾病的儿童说。 “早产儿和使用呼吸器的婴儿特别容易受到伤害。”
该报告发现，在2019年8月，亚马逊地区有90个城市、近300万人曝露于超过世界卫生组织建议阈值的有害空气污染水平。 9月更增加到168个城市、450万人。
非法砍伐森林和随后的火灾经常发生在原住民族领域内外，有时会破坏他们的作物，消耗库存的粮食、药草和猎获物，并且损害健康。
医疗人员和官员担心，已经因为2020年新冠肺炎大流行而超载的医疗机构，将进一步面临收治火灾病患的压力，可能导致亚马逊部分地区的医疗系统崩溃。烟雾也可能加剧新冠肺炎症状，导致更多重症和死亡病例。
“当局应采取更多措施来解决这一长期且可预防的公共卫生危机，” IEPS主任拉戈（Miguel Lago）说。 “政府应该实施有效的空气质量监测机制并执行空气质量标准，通过预防性和应对性的政策维护健康，并特别关注弱势群体。”
自博索纳罗于2019年1月上任以来，他的政府破坏了巴西环境部门，并试图削弱对保护区和原住民领域的限制。根据巴西DETER卫星监测系统的保守估计，在他就职的第一年内，森林砍伐增加了百分之85。第二年，森林破坏持续全速前进。
根据巴西具有法律拘束力的《国家气候变化政策》，政府承诺到2020年将每年的总体毁林率降至3,925平方公里。然而，今年才到7月底就已有4,700平方公里遭到砍伐。
有许多理由可以预期，今年亚马逊的火势将更加猛烈。到今年4月，新砍伐的森林面积加上2019年被清理但未焚烧的区域，总计已达4,509平方公里，很可能在今年干季付之一炬。今年7月被侦测到的火灾就比去年同期多了百分之28。
博索纳罗企图淡化眼前的危机。在8月11日的一场会议上，博索纳罗对南美各国领导人说： “他们不会找到任何一点火星，也不会找到任何一片森林被砍伐。” 尽管政府本身的官方数据与他的说法背道而驰。
相对地，副总统莫朗（HamiltonMourão）在8月10日表示，政府已派员执行“遏止毁林和大火的紧急措施”。作为因应各界责难而成立的亚马逊理事会（Amazon Council）主席，莫朗一再动用军队进行环境执法。这些行动的有效性微乎其微，2020年的森林砍伐与火警侦测数量仍持续攀升。
该报告指出，博索纳罗政府颁布了一项命令，禁止在今年旱季焚烧森林，但若不加强执法，禁令的作用可能很有限。
“联邦政府有义务保护亚马逊及其原居民构成的独特生态系统，但是对雨林的加速破坏正将我们推向无法复原的临界点，对巴西经济和全球气候变迁将造成不可逆转的后果，” 亚马逊环境研究所主任纪马雷斯（André Guimarães）说。 “联邦政府必须在最短时间内确保所有环境执法机构的有效协调，才能避免这场灾难。”
更多內容詳見英文版。
