‘Earth’s lungs’ are struggling to breath
Fires are burning at record rate in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest for several days, which could be devastating for climate as these forests absorb most of the carbon dioxide of the world.
Amazon’s tropical forests are also dubbed as ‘lungs of the planet’ for they produce more than 20 per cent oxygen of the world. The largest tropical forest of the world absorb a large proportion of the air moisture as well.
This is the most rapid fire in the region since the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) started tracking them in 2013.
INPE recorded 72,843 fires in Brazil only the following year, with more than half of them in the Amazon rainforest which is home to several thousand species of animals and plants. The forest is considered vital for minimizing the effects of climate change.
Horrific pictures of the jungle are circulating on social media, which show enormous blaze and dead bodies of different animals. Residents of the nearby tribe complain that they had already asked the government to preserve the forests for they were prone to fire.
Blazes erupts in Amazon because of dry weather in Brazil, but sometimes it is deliberately done to deforest the land.
“The dry season creates the favourable conditions for the use and spread of fire, but starting a fire is the work of humans, either deliberately or by accident,” Reuters quoted a researcher as saying.
The wildfire has taken place weeks after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro sacked the head of the agency amid debate over deforestation in the area.
Jair Bolsonaro is being blamed for the ravaging incident. The conservationists blamed that losses of the forest multiplied since he took office earlier this year.
Previous governments had made efforts to curb the deforestation through a system of fines. However, the incumbent government criticized the penalties and sacked director of the INPE and blamed him of lying about the scale of deforestation.
Inpe had published a report about an 88% increase in deforestation there in June compared to the same month a year ago.
A video shows a native of the land saying “Look at what they did to our nature reserve. We were fighting for two years to preserve it and these troublemakers come and set our village on fire. As if it weren’t enough for Vale to come here to kill our rivers, to kill our sources of life, now they set our reserve on fire. We will not be silent. Tomorrow we will block the road and we want the media here to defend us.”
There are a number of suggestions being given to help stop deforestation in Amazon which include donation to the organisations working for protection of the rainforest, cutting use of paper and wood and contacting influential people to make them realize about the seriousness of the issue.
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