Amazon rainforests, the lungs of the Earth that provide for 20% of the world’s oxygen are being engulfed by the worst fire in years. According to INPE (National Institute for Space Research), there is an 83% increase in Amazon Fires this year as compared to 2018. The flames have been reportedly captured by NOAA and NASA satellites as well. Amazonia Fires, apart from posing a severe danger for the environment, are also causing a great loss of biodiversity including animals and plants. Almost 73,000 fires have been detected in Amazon since January 2019.
It is worrying that the news about such loss of Brazilian rainforest has made to the mainstream media after almost three weeks.
The incident has also sparked outrage on social media. Environmentalists in particular and citizens, in general, are questioning what was so significant about Notre Dame that billionaires from the corporate world donated for the reconstruction of the building but they have turned a blind eye to the destruction of the ecosystem.
Who Is Responsible for Amazon Fires?
Conservationists say that Amazon fires are human-induced and not caused by dry air and hot weather conditions as stated by Brazil’s environmental minister Ricardo Salles. Environmentalists claim that farmers have set the forests on fire to clear land for animals’ grazing. The scale of destruction of Amazon rainforests is said to be higher as compared to previous years.
Concerned groups are attributing the increased rate of Amazon Fires to the policies of Brazil’s President from far-right Jair Bolsonaro who has no regard for climate change. When Bolsonaro came to power people feared that his policies of commercializing Brazilian rainforest would reverse all the efforts of the international community to reverse the climate change.
Brazil’s Minister for Environment Gets Shouted Down
The news of Amazon Fires has become the talk of the town on social media as evident from related hashtags on Twitter. Most of the criticism is directed to the Brazilian government and corporate greed. Recently, Brazil’s minister for the environment was shouted down at a meeting of Climate Change for his callous attitude towards the reckless destruction of Amazon’s rainforests in Brazil.
Tropical rainforests of South America cover an area of 5.5 Kilometers Square. They are spread in countries like Brazil. Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Columbia, Suriname, Guyana and Bolivia. These forests are a rich source of carbon and provide habitat to diverse kind of flora and fauna. Their destruction can threaten the life of not only human beings but also different species of plants and animals in various direct and indirect ways.
