Amazon Rainforest Fires
Amazon Rainforest trended 1 week 18 - 24 August and a total of 5 Mn search volume was generated in this duration.
Amazon & Brazil-
Amazon spans approximately 6.7 Mn sq. km. (Twice the size of India). It is shared by 8 countries and approx. 60% basin is located in Brazil.
Reasons for Amazon Fires-
In Bolsonaro's first year as President, Brazilian rainforests fared the highest loss in the decade.
2019 Forest Fires-
- About 76,000 fires were burning across the Brazilian Amazon at August 2019 count , an increase of over 80% up form the same period last year.
- Scientists found that most of the fires burning today was match up with the spots were trees were cut earlier this year.
- The Scale of area cleared in July Month was 278% higher than July 2018.
Effect on Environment -
- Amazon is starting to reach a tipping point after which the system would become unstable. This deviation from dynamic stability correspond to scenario C below -
- Cities like Manaus have pollution levels like Beijing in the middle of the rainforest.
- Affected (burned) areas of Amazon might take centuries to fully recover.
Temporary Relief -
- In September 2019, a moratorium on burning was declared by Bolsonaro which essentially stopped all burning.
- This along with the troops to tackle fires led to substantial reduction of fires in September 2019.
- After pressure from groups like WWF and greenpeace more than 60 companies including Unilever, Walmart and McDonalds signed an agreement not to do business with suppliers that contribute to deforestation in Cerrado Grassland Area.
The other Amazon forest fire no one talked about -
There were only 9900 searches in august globally regarding Bolivian Amazon fires. In Bolivia 4 mn hectares were burnt by fire in few months. The major reason was beef, soy, cattle production and government's policies which made deforestation easy.
Heavy rains in early October doused the Bolivian Amazon fires.
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