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The Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) reports an increasing number of fires in the Amazon rainforest. Official figures show that more than 78,000 fires have broken out in Brazil this year, burning over 5.5 million square kilometers.2Amazon rainforest.
However, the fires discovered in the Amazon in recent days are on a completely different scale and are considered a global catastrophe. The latest images from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) show that the fires are incredibly destructive, with many areas of the Amazon rainforest completely burned, leaving only a few tree stumps.
Huge plumes of smoke can still be seen in surrounding areas. Meanwhile, many parts of the forest are inaccessible due to the intensity of the fires, and the sky above the Amazon rainforest has turned red.
William Magnusson, a biodiversity monitoring researcher at the National Institute for Brazilian Research (INPA), said: “In the Amazon, nothing is adapted to fires.” According to him, the forest has such a rich and diverse array of species because it has never experienced devastating fires in hundreds, even millions of years. The fires that have occurred have usually been natural and very small, burning low to the ground and quickly extinguished by rain.
Therefore, given its enormous scale, this fire has caused the deaths of many animals due to fire, high temperatures, or inhaling smoke. Many wildlife species may be more severely threatened after the fire, such as Milton's titi, a species only discovered in 2011. The ecosystem and food chain in the burned area will be completely altered because the fire has destroyed the dense canopy that prevented sunlight from reaching the ground, fundamentally changing the energy flow of the ecosystem.
Marine life may be safe in the short term. But animals living in small rivers and streams, where biodiversity is high, will be affected. For example, amphibians that live underwater need to surface to breathe, and will have to inhale smoke from the fire. The fire can also degrade chemicals in the water.
How did the countries react?
The strong international response to the devastating fires raging in the Amazon has prompted the Brazilian president to mobilize approximately 44,000 soldiers to combat the blazes.
Defense Minister Fernando Azvedo said the army would participate in unprecedented operations to extinguish the fires. Soldiers will be deployed to nature reserves, indigenous lands, and border areas besieged by the fires.
He added that the army's first task is to deploy 700 soldiers to the vicinity of Porto Velho, the capital of Rondonia, where the army will use two C-130 Hercules aircraft to drop 12,000 liters of water into the Amazon rainforest.
In addition, French President Emmanuel Macron called on G7 leaders to discuss the environmental crisis in Brazil at the summit this past weekend in Biarritz, France.
The G7 nations agreed to donate $20 million in aid to Amazonian countries to combat the fires and implement a long-term global program to protect the forest.
The support plan, announced by the French and Chilean presidents on Monday, August 26, is a reforestation program. Details of this program will be announced at the United Nations General Assembly meeting next month.
US President Donald Trump did not attend the G7 meeting on climate change, biodiversity, and oceans, but he affirmed, "My team was there," and that the US supports the G7 initiative.
Chilean President Sebastian Piñera said he is in regular contact with the Brazilian president to persuade him of the importance of the Amazon rainforest. The Chilean president added: “In the last 20 years, nearly 10% of the Amazon rainforest has been destroyed. But we can still restore it. It takes time, money, and effort, but we can do it.”
Additionally, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has outlined five practical solutions that even ordinary people, including those living far away, can implement to help save the Amazon from severe destruction. Learn more about these solutions at [link/website].This.
