Environmentalists are globally worried about the extent to which the Amazon forest fires have reached this year. The Amazon rainforest is witnessing the burning of a record number of trees this year and the smoke from these fires has been captured by both NASA and NOAA satellites from space.
The footage taken from these satellites point towards the fact that there has been an 83% increase in the total area under fire since 2018.
The fire was so intense that is also led to an intense blackout more than 1,700 miles away in Brazil’s Sao Paulo this week. It is to be noted that such wildfires have been a a natural phenomenon during the dry season in Brazil but this year things seem to have worsened at a large scale.
The Amazon Rainforest is hugely important to the planet’s ecosystem. It is the lungs of the world. But the story of the gigantic fire that is sweeping across the Amazon is receiving very little coverage in the media. #AmazonFire #AmazonRainforest pic.twitter.com/i5gfUAPs4j
— James Melville (@JamesMelville) August 22, 2019
What has made the situation even more serious is the fact that while much of these fires may be seen as naturally occurring, there are many that are being purposefully started to deforest land to make it suitable for cattle ranching.
It has been established that cattle ranching is the single largest cause for deforestation activities in all Amazon countries and amounts to 80% of the current deforestation pattern.
The Brazilian Amazon is the largest exporter of cattle and is responsible for providing over one fourth of the total global supply.
Space agencies responsible for taking extensive footage of the scenario noted that there had been more than 72,000 fires between January and August in the Amazon region.
Many environmentalists feel that it is the Brazilian government that is to be held responsible for the increase in the wildfires and claim that President Jair Bolsonaro is to be held accountable for having encouraged loggers and farmers to freely clear off forest land in order to make it suitable for cattle rearing.
Moreover, it has been noted that although the Amazon forests remained fire-proof for much of history, today they are increasingly becoming prone to fires because they are losing their natural moisture due to human intervention.
Increased deforestation and anthropogenic climate change are being held responsible for the ongoing forest fires.
The Amazon Rainforest fires are a concern for the world because it is the one of the most intense forest covers in the world and is often considered as the lungs of the world.
It contributes about 20% of the earth’s total oxygen and therefore its decay is a threat to life on earth.
