Amazon rainforest fire impact can already be seen in different regions in South America including the Atlantic coast and Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city. Sao Paulo plunged into sudden darkness around 3 pm on Monday(August 20, 2019). A dark, smoky cover seemed to envelop the city and the rain that poured down smelled like smoke. Sao Paulo is located about thousands of away from the burning fire.
Why are the Amazon forests called the ‘Lungs of the Earth’?
The Amazon rainforest, covering much of northwestern Brazil and extending into Colombia, Peru and other South American countries, is the world’s largest tropical rainforest, famed for its biodiversity. It’s crisscrossed by thousands of rivers, including the powerful Amazon. River towns, with 19th-century architecture from rubber-boom days, include Brazil’s Manaus and Belém and Peru’s Iquitos and Puerto Maldonado. They are called as “Lungs of the Earth” because they are spread across an area of about 5.5 million km² which makes it the largest rainforest on earth and The rainforest, which contributes almost 20 per cent of the earth’s oxygen.
What is the reason for the fire?
Amazon is prone to fires from the month of July to October, peaking in late September. Wetter weather during the rest of the year minimizes the risk of fires at other times. According to environmentalists, 99 per cent of the forest fires are a result of human actions, either on purpose or by accident. The farmers generally wait for the dry season so that they can cattle can graze.
Environmentalists blame Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro
The environmentalists are blaming Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for the forest fires. When Bolsonaro was running for president, he had promised to restore Brazil's economy by exploring the economic potential of the Amazon rainforest.
The Fire Impact
The fire in Brazil’s forest has been burning at the highest rate. There have been around 72,843 fires in Brazil in 2019 itself, with more than half in the Amazon rainforest. This shows an 80 per cent increase in fires during the same period in 2018.
Amazon forest and climate change
According to the environmentalists, the fire is only adding up to the effects of climate change, this has resulted in cities being clouded by the smoke from the fire of Amazon forests. It is producing huge amounts of Carbon dioxide emissions which are harmful to human beings and in turn making the earth warmer and hotter and the fire continues to produce toxic gases like carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and non-methane organic compounds into the atmosphere.
Amazon forest produces 20% of the world's oxygen and majorly contributed in slowing down the effects climate change and helps in making the environment cooler and reducing the effects of climate change, although the rainforest is home to uncountable number of flora and fauna and While the immediate impact of the fire would be changed in the heating of the regional atmosphere, in the long term it is expected to lead to a potential decline in natural carbon.
CO2 Emission-A Vicious Cycle
It has emitted a huge amount of carbon dioxide in the environment, resulting in lower visibility and hence this will in turn result in health problems in humans and animals which will be the cause of death of everybody if we do not act fast. Greenpeace said that forest fires and climate change operate in a vicious circle. As the number of fires increase, greenhouse gas emissions do too. This makes the planet's overall temperature rise, the organization said. As the temperature increases, extreme weather events like major droughts happen more often.
"In addition to increasing emissions, deforestation contributes directly to a change in rainfall patterns in the affected region, extending the length of the dry season, further affecting forests, biodiversity, agriculture and human health”.
Solution and Conclusion
The first thing to do is collectively come together as beings of earth and help put out the fire as fast as possible and the primary goal is to restore from the damage done. This is a concern which extends to each and every person living on earth and not just the citizens of Brazil. This is an issue which affects each and every person and directly harms your health and may cause the deaths of the people at large. The burning of the Amazon is not just a region-specific issue. It is a call to the entire Earth to shift their attention to the rapid and drastic climate changes taking place. We need to take concrete steps to reverse the delicate situation our mother Earth is in today and if we don’t, we will face our doom very soon.
- - Deekshitha Jain
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