Amazon forest, lungs of the planet under fire

Amazon under fire. Yes lungs of the planet is said to be under fire by human action. This is so unfortunate to believe that for some business gains artificially manhandled fire has been set in amazon forest which supply approximately 20% of the planet oxygen and known as the biggest hurdle towards glabal warming. This forest has different levels and only 2 % sunlight reaches to the forest.

The country’s space research center (INPE) said this week that the number of fires in Brazil are 80% higher than last year. More than half are in the Amazon region, spelling disaster for the local environment and ecology.

And 99% percent of the fires result from human actions “either on purpose or by accident,” Alberto Setzer, a senior scientist at INPE, said. The burning can range from a small-scale agricultural practice, to new deforestation for a mechanized and modern agribusiness project, Setzer told CNN by email

This year’s fires fit into an established seasonal agricultural pattern, Brink said. “It’s the best time to burn because the vegetation is dry. [Farmers] wait for the dry season and they start burning and clearing the areas so that their cattle can graze. And that’s what we’re suspecting is going on down there.”

The peak of the dry season is still to come in September, she added.

Compared to previous years, the destruction this year is “unprecedented,” Poirier said.