Amazon Forest Fire – Here’s What You Need To Know!

If you haven’t heard the news already, and most likely you haven’t because media isn’t covering this at all but the Amazon Forest (yea the big one in Brazil) is burning and has been for the last 3 weeks!  It is estimated that the Amazon Forest Fire is one of the worst one in recent history.

According to the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) – its satellite shows that there has been 84% increase in the number of fires in the Amazon compared to 2018!

84% from last year!

We’ve found more people talking about this on social media websites such as Twitter, Instagram and 9gag. Yea, 9GAG is talking about it for a few days already and news sites are just picking up this news!

But that’s not all, we’ve been losing bits and pieces of Amazon for a while now and you can go ahead and thank the current Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Yea, this guy!

According to him, it is not Brazil’s responsibility to protect the Amazon and so he has been opening up sections of the Amazon for logging and farming. He has also brushed off the data, saying that it is the “season of the queimada”, which is when farmers use fire to clear the land for farming and cattle. He was also quoted by Reuters saying, “I used to be called Captain Chainsaw. Now I am Nero, setting the Amazon aflame.”

Now, people are demanding that he change his ways and protect the Amazon instead of further harming the forest! Also, people wondering where the billionaires of the world are now?!

Here are a few reasons why the Amazon is important to not just Brazil and South America, but also the entire world!

• The Amazon rainforest is called the ‘Lungs of the Planet’ because it produces more than 20% of the world’s oxygen.
• The Amazon rainforest accounts for more than half of the entire world’s remaining rainforests. It is so big that the UK and Ireland would fit into it 17 times!
• It includes over 10 million species of animals, plants and insects known to man!
• The Amazon is estimated to have 16,000 tree species and 390 billion individual trees.
• Around 400-500 indigenous Amerindian tribes call the Amazon rainforest home. From these about fifty of these tribes have never had contact with the outside world!
• Cattle ranching accounts for roughly 70% of deforestation in the Amazon.
• Climate Change significantly affects the forest and it is estimated that if the climate change were to increase the world’s temperature by only 3 degrees Celsius then 75% of the Amazon would be destroyed.

Now, you know why we must save the forest!

Check out more articles on Current Events here.