This year alone, Brazil has suffered “72,843 fires with more than half in the Amazon region,’the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) said. That’s more than an 80% increase compared with the same period last year.The Amazon is often referred to as the planet’s lungs, producing 20% of the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere. “
The Amazon is often referred to as the planet’s lungs, producing 20% of the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere and critical to curbing Climate Change.
Environmental groups blame Brazil’s far-right, pro-business president Jair Bolsonaro for endangering the rain forest. They cite rolling back environmental policies to make way for deforestation for economic development have caused the recent fires.
However, Bolsonaro recently lied and blamed non-government groups for intentionally setting the forest ablaze to draw “international criticism to his government.”
Activists have warned that if the Amazon continues on this path, it will become a desert inhabitable to most native wildlife. It would no longer produce oxygen but could emit carbon, “the major driver of climate change.“
