1997 Set Record for Tropical Forest Fires

More tropical forests burned in 1997 than at any time in recorded history, sowing death, respiratory illnesses and pollution and destroying wildlife habitats, the World Wide Fund for Nature said in a report released in London. Up to 12.4 million acres of forest and other land burned in Indonesia and Brazil. Vast areas of Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Peru, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and other parts of Africa also burned, and large-scale fires were reported in Australia, China, Russia and several Mediterranean countries, the report said. El Nino, the cyclical phenomenon of warming Pacific temperatures that disrupts climate patterns, delayed monsoon rains that usually extinguish many naturally occurring forest fires. At least 80% of the fires were set deliberately, often by multinational companies trying to clear land for development, a WWFN official said.