Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Killings and repression of defenders · Brazil · 2019–2024

Alter do Chão and Dia do Fogo fire allegations

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 1 not measured · 2 disputed · 1 unclear See the gaps

After the 2019 Amazon fires in Brazil, an allegation circulated that NGOs had set fires to attract donations. The Federal Police found no culprit among them. Two investigations into the separate "Dia do Fogo" were closed in 2024 without an indictment.

5.7% of 478Dia do Fogo: properties penalised
Share of 478 properties penalised; two investigations closed in 2024 without an indictment.

Status As of 2024: both Dia do Fogo investigations closed without an indictment; Alter do Chão file closed and detained volunteers released.

What?
Allegations that NGOs, and separately farmers acting in coordination, started Amazon fires; the first was not supported by the Federal Police, the second ended in two investigations closed without an indictment.
Where?
Alter do Chão and the Amazon, Brazil
When?
2019 to 2024
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
  • Volunteer fire-brigade members detained in 2019 and later released — Detention
Harmed
None on record
Why?
Not stated.
How?
Not stated.
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

In 2019, fires burned in the Amazon in Brazil. In the Alter do Chão area an allegation was made that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had started fires in order to raise donations. Volunteer fire-brigade members were detained in connection with the Alter do Chão fires and were later released.

The Federal Police did not identify any culprit among the NGOs. The first fire hotspots were outside the area that had been blamed (Capadócia). The claim that WWF financed fires was found to be false. The file on the Alter do Chão matter was closed.

A second allegation concerned the "Dia do Fogo", the claim that farmers set fires in a coordinated way. Two investigations into it were closed in 2024 without an indictment. Of 478 properties, 5.7% were penalised.

The research file describes the allegation against NGOs as one that did not hold on the record, and the Dia do Fogo allegation as partly documented but without punishment of those behind it.

  1. 2019Amazon fires; allegation that NGOs started fires for donations; volunteer brigade members detained
  2. 2020Brazilian press coverage of the Alter do Chão matter (Folha Vitória)
  3. 2024Two investigations into the Dia do Fogo closed without an indictment; 5.7% of 478 properties penalised

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Did NGOs set fires at Alter do Chão in 2019?
Communities and civil society
Those who made the allegation (not further identified)

NGOs set the fires to attract donations.

Government and regulators
Federal Police

Found no culprit among the NGOs; the first fire hotspots were outside the blamed area (Capadócia).

Did farmers burn in coordination on the Dia do Fogo?
Government and regulators
Two investigations

Closed in 2024 without an indictment; 5.7% of 478 properties were penalised.

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • That NGOs set the Amazon fires in order to attract donations
    Those who made the allegation in 2019 (not further identified)
  • That WWF financed fires
    Those who made the allegation in 2019 (not further identified)
  • That farmers burned in a coordinated way on the Dia do Fogo
    Those who made the allegation (not further identified)

Recorded

  • The Federal Police found no culprit among the NGOs.
  • The first fire hotspots were outside the area that had been blamed (Capadócia).
  • The detained volunteer brigade members were released and the file was closed.
  • Two Dia do Fogo investigations were closed in 2024 without an indictment; 5.7% of 478 properties were penalised.

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. No defendant left
    Alter do Chão fire investigation
    Federal Police investigation · Criminal · Not stated → Volunteer brigade members (detained, later released)

    The Federal Police found no culprit among the NGOs; the detained volunteers were released and the file was closed.

  2. 2024Outcome not on record
    Dia do Fogo investigations
    Two investigations · Criminal · Not stated → Not stated

    Two investigations were closed in 2024 without an indictment. Of 478 properties, 5.7% were penalised.

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Indictments after the Dia do Fogo
None
Two investigations closed in 2024 without an indictment
Properties penalised
5.7% of 478
Dia do Fogo, as stated in the sources reviewed

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
No court caseNo independent ecological evaluation

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.

Court

  • Unclear Dia do Fogo investigations: outcome not on record.

Accounts

  • Disputed Did NGOs set fires at Alter do Chão in 2019?
  • Disputed Did farmers burn in coordination on the Dia do Fogo?

Record

  • None on record Dia do Fogo: two investigations were closed in 2024 without an indictment.

Did the harm stop?

Not stated.

Who paid?

Not stated.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts— Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Similar cases
Killings and repression of defenders · Protected area / relocation · Brazil · 2019
Paulo Paulino Guajajara killing (Brazil)
Same type: Killings and repression of defendersSame countryHarm to nature not measured
Killings and repression of defenders · Protected area / relocation · Brazil · 2022–2026
Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips killing (Brazil)
Same type: Killings and repression of defendersSame countryHarm to nature not measured
Killings and repression of defenders · Protected area / relocation · Brazil · 2005–2019
Dorothy Stang killing
Same type: Killings and repression of defendersSame countryHarm to nature not measured
Killings and repression of defenders · Guatemala · 2009–2024
Adolfo Ich killing and the Fénix nickel project
Same type: Killings and repression of defendersSame regionCourt: outcome not on record
Killings and repression of defenders · Protected area / relocation · Brazil · 1988–2024
Chico Mendes murder (Brazil)
Same type: Killings and repression of defendersSame countryCourt: ended without remedy
Killings and repression of defenders · Protected area / relocation · Brazil · 2011
José Cláudio and Maria murder
Same type: Killings and repression of defendersSame countryHarm to nature not measured