Thread by @_richardblack

Little thread here about #AmazonFires on something I haven't seen reported yet in media

Brazil is a federal system - states have a lot of autonomy and their governors (as I saw first-hand a while back news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/n…) a big say in what happens with forests, farming, logging and so on

Have a look at which states in the Brazilian Amazon have registered a big increase in fires and which haven't bbc.com/news/world-lat…

Then have a look at the governors of Brazilian states en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_c…

Of the five Amazonian states with the highest increase in fires, four are governed by people in #Bolsonaro's current or recent political parties

Roraima and Rondônia are governed by figures from the PSL, his current party. Amazonas – PSC, which he belonged to when he started his presidential campaign. Acre – PP, to which he belonged for the 11 years before that (2005-16)

By contrast, the two states registering a decrease in fire incidence are governed by Bolsonaro's political enemies – Amapá, PDT and Maranhão, PCdoB

Bolsonaro allies – more burning. Bolsonaro opponents – less burning

Put this together with today's revelations from @OpenDemocracy opendemocracy.net/en/democraciaa… and it's hard to avoid the conclusion that the forest isn't burning due to neglect from Brazil's ruling parties but due to their intention

Interesting to see how Europe's political leaders handle this because their criticism, though entirely correct factually, feeds his populist rhetoric. And who knows how Trump will pitch in?

Well – that's it. I haven't seen the state governors point made before, so there we are