What is happening in the Amazon?

[Mr.Espinoza ♔♔♔]

The world's largest tropical forest is in danger and the world is reacting.

The #PrayforAmazonas label is a worldwide trend on Twitter since the early morning of August 20, after several media confirmed that more than 500,000 hectares in 16 days have been razed by a raging fire.

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The news went viral when NASA, through its Fire Information platform for the resource management system (FIRMS) selected a satellite image with the active sources.

This is the highest rate of fire claims since the Burn Program of the National Space Research Institute (INPE) of Brazil began with its follow-up in 2013.

According to CNN, "until August 20, INPE reported a total of 72,843 fires in Brazil, which represents an increase of more than 80 percent compared to the same period of 2018."

CNN also confirmed that satellite images detected 9,507 new foci in the Amazon basin, the world's largest tropical forest and that it is essential to counteract global warming.

The Colombian newspaper El Espectador selected a shocking video of the catastrophe

Tree fellers use fire to clear the soil after deforestation.

 "There is no natural fire in the Amazon. There are people who practice burning, which can worsen and ignite fires in the dry season," they explained from IPAM.

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Moutinho argues that fires always had the hand of man; Fire is used to clean already deforested areas, to open roads or to prepare farmland. The lack of prevention makes these fires spread to areas that did not want to burn and are drier. Many times, if they do not become extinct with the rain, they end up finding more dense and humid vegetation barriers and turn off.

- How long does it take to recover those areas?

-In the Amazon, the flames run through the jungle floor and their action is enough to cause the death of very large trees, up to two years after the fire. Dead trees lose their leaves and that causes more sun to enter the jungle, which causes that vegetation to become more flammable. If there are no new fires, it takes several decades to recover the same density. In some regions, burned areas are invaded by other species in more arid areas, such as the closed one (the Brazilian savanna, the second largest biome in Brazil).

What consequences do these fires leave?

- In the beginning, biological diversity and the function of the forest are lost, that of supplying the atmosphere with clouds to produce rain. But also the smoke on the cities of the Amazon leaves serious consequences for health, with serious respiratory problems. And that translates into economic damage.

- Does Jair Bolsonaro's government policy encourage fires?

- I don't have data to answer that (...). I can say that the problem is very serious and the government should immediately start a campaign to control and prevent deforestation. It is a process that must be interrupted. The illegal occupation of public lands is a robbery of Brazilians. In large part, deforestation is to speculate and resell that land later.

- How much was already deforested in the Amazon?

- The area of the Amazon basin (covering Brazil and other countries) deforested equals the size of France. It is about 20%. There is still 80% of jungle standing. We still have time to avoid a functional collapse of the jungle, but the solution has to be quick. It must also be taken into account that the degradation of the forest is not only due to deforestation. Also for the effect of climate change, for increasingly frequent phenomena, such as "El Niño", which brings a lot of drought to the Amazon.