News of burning Amazon Rainforests has captured worldwide attention. It’s a complex story and discussions online have meant that we may have been given misleading information and photos. But the news is reporting that Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is burning at a catastrophic rate.
It is truly devastating to see the lush, beautiful landscape ablaze, knowing that it is posing a threat to the future of our Earth overall. The Amazon Rainforest – the largest in the world – branded as the planet’s lungs because it generates around 20 per cent of oxygen in the atmosphere.
If the fires continue in the Amazon and the situation gets worse, the Amazon could transform into a dry savannah driving away forest wildlife and annihilating vegetation on which the Earth relies so heavily for the oxygen we breathe. So far this year, 74,000 fires have been recorded in the rainforest according to the National Institute for Space Research, which is more than an 80% increase from 2018. It’s possible that the result of the fires has been from the rising temperatures as this past July was the hottest on record.
NASA recently released images of the smoke from the fires which is estimated to cover 1.2 million square miles. The Amazon basin is in trouble, nearly 2 million square miles of it located in Brazil. Deforestation rates there were almost 50 per cent higher between August 2018 and July 2019 compared with the same period the year before.
Environmentalists are fearing 2019 might be the worst year yet for deforestation. Deforestation in Brazil in particular has surged since May this year prompting concerns throughout the media that Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s President, is giving a free pass to illegal logging, farming and mining.
However, other factors may have contributed to the increase. The first few months of the year were cloudy and rainy which means some areas may have been more difficult to clear and missed in earlier sweeps. The bad weather also could have prompted loggers and farmers to delay land clearance until May.
The media has not given any clear reasons as to why these devastating fires are happening and it can be frustrating to not be able to do anything about it. As arborists we understand how devastating it can be to the wildlife and atmosphere to lose trees as catastrophically as the Amazon has and we want to do our bit to help – and so can you!
If you would like to help us play a small part in counteracting the devastation, for every person that likes our Facebook page, we will plant one new tree in our private forestry.
You can follow the progress here on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheArbTeam/
Share the news with your friends and family, and we’ll get planting!
The Arb Team are a specialist Tree Surgeon and Grounds Maintenance team based in Swansea covering Carmarthen, Llanelli, Neath, Bridgend, Cardiff and Newport.
If you're looking for a local Tree Surgeon, give us a call.
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