Amazon Forest Fire

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At an unprecedented pace, the Amazon forest is burning up. NASA's satellite images display destructive fires in the Amazon between Paraguay and Brazil's borders. The photos come just a week after Jair Bolsonaro's government fired the director of the National Space Research Institute (INPE) of Brazil in the midst of a dispute over its satellite results.

The photos revealed an increase in Amazon deforestation, vigorously denied and dismissed as "lies" by the far-right government.



             Source: NASA's satellite image showing the fires between the border of Paraguay and Brazil



If the current fires were purposely set or whether they are a result of rising temperatures is still uncertain. Data released by INPE and other environmental organizations reveals that the Amazon is currently burning in Brazil at an unprecedented pace.

72,843 fires were detected this year, an 83 percent rise over the same duration in 2018. Since the INPE began recording them in 2013, this is the highest number of fires.


Trees planted through Ecosia searches in the Mata Atlântica, a former rainforest spreading across Brazil's coast.


Historically, the country's ruralistas - Brazil's agricultural sector - have had a strong impact. Brazil, nicknamed the world's farm, relies on the sale of meat and soy (mostly for animal feed) to the whole world, with the European Union as one of its main export markets.

Additionally, the government of Bolsonaro is dismantling the initiatives of previous governments to impose environmental regulations. After barely half a year in office, Brazilian conservation groups and environmental agencies have been weakened.

Nowadays, as Severino Ribeiro told us, director of PACTO Mata Atlântica, Ecosia's tree planting partner in Brazil, civil organizations believe they can "no longer contribute to Brazil's environmental policies."

Overall, a feeling of vulnerability is present. With Bolsonaro's lax law enforcement, environmental organizations fear that ruralistas - who hold large quantities of the forested territories of Brazil - might feel encouraged to set fire to their lands. In return for rapid financial benefits, either to make room for cattle keeping or to allow mining and logging activities.


Severino (left), director of PACTO, Ecosia's tree planting partner in Brazil.

The Amazon Forest is considered to be the lungs of the earth by scientists. It takes carbon dioxide out of the air and traps it under the surface, which is why it is important to avoid climate breakdown by preserving it.

With three million plant and animal species, the Amazon is the world's largest rainforest and home to a million people.

Brazil's forests are among the most biodiverse in the world, which is why we are planting an additional one million trees there at Ecosia to help restore lost biodiversity and as a symbol of policies that disregard environmental degradation.


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