'Lung of Earth' on Fire: Amazon Rainforest Records 74,000 Fires in 2019

Guwahati, August 22, 2019:

The world's largest forest, the ‘Amazon rainforest’, has been devastated by a record 74,000 fires so far this year, which is a new record.

Sharing satellite pictures of a blanket of smoke covering Brazil, NASA, in its official statement said, “NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Worldview application provides the capability to interactively browse over 700 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and then download the underlying data. Many of the available imagery layers are updated within three hours of observation, essentially showing the entire Earth as it looks 'right now.”

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Reportedly, Paulo Moutinho, co-founder of the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, said, “It is very difficult to have natural fires in the Amazon; it happens but the majority come from the hand of humans.”

According to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Amazon rainforest has suffered a record number of fires this year. The satellite data had detected 74,155 fires since January, which is an increase of 84% over the same period of 2018.

This has set alarm bells ringing as the Amazon rainforest, which covers much of northwestern Brazil and extends into Colombia, Peru and other South American countries, is the world’s largest tropical rainforest, and is famed for its biodiversity.

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