Rio de Janeiro (TAN): The Amazon rainforest in Brazil is burning which experts say, is not just one of the most shocking wildfires in the history of the region but could also have an irreversible impact on climate change.
“The effects of forest destruction in the Amazon don’t stay in the Amazon. They affect us all,” Robin Chazdon, professor emerita at the University of Connecticut, United States, who has studied tropical forest ecology was quoted by media reports as saying.
The forest which produces around 20% of the world’s oxygen, and is therefore referred to as ‘the planet’s lungs’, is reportedly burning at the highest rate since the National Institute for Space Research, Brazil started monitoring the wildfires in 2013. According to reports, there have been over 74,150 fires in the Amazon this year, 84% more from the same period last year.
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The fires are so massive that Sao Paulo, situated 1,700 miles away, were affected with smoke turning the city dark.
Environmentalists said the fires were set by loggers and cattle ranchers who deforested massive expanses of land in order to use it for business prospects. They reportedly cut down trees, left them out to dry and set them on fire so that they could grow crops or raise cattle.
Though it is illegal, Nigel Sizer, Chief Programme Officer of Rainforest Alliance, United States-based non-governmental organisation working with businesses, agriculture, and forests to promote responsible business, said the Brazilian government did nothing to stop the practice.
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“With confidence, we can say that a lot of that is illegal and is happening because the government has given the nod to illegal clearing and burning across the Amazon. The president has even encouraged the invasion of indigenous territories and areas that the previous administrations have really been working hard to protect,” he added.
On the other hand, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office on January 1 this year, reportedly indicated non-governmental organisations started the fires to hurt his government.
“Maybe – I am not affirming it – these (NGO people) are carrying out some criminal actions to draw attention against me, against the government of Brazil,” President Bolsonaro was quoted by media reports as saying.
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United Nations Secretary General António Guterres took to Twitter to express his concerns.
“I’m deeply concerned by the fires in the Amazon rainforest. In the midst of the global climate crisis, we cannot afford more damage to a major source of oxygen and biodiversity. The Amazon must be protected,” he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron shared his fears, saying: “Our house is burning. Literally. The Amazon rain forest – the lungs which produces 20% of our planet’s oxygen – is on fire. It is an international crisis. Members of the G7 Summit, let’s discuss this emergency first order in two days! #ActForTheAmazon”
