Earth on fire ?

Source: NASA

As many as 80,000 fires have occurred in the Brazil area of the Amazon this year itself - a 77% hike year-on-year, as per the official data released as of August.

As threatening to indigenous lives as it is, our planet earth relies heavily on these forests as well.

It is said that more than 20% of the world's oxygen is produced through Amazon rain-forests. It is one of the most vital links in maintaining the ecological balance of our planet earth. Or in simple terms, it keeps the effects of global warming in check.

Let us first dive into the background of what has been happening.

Since the 1970s, the deforestation has consumed almost 12% of the forest area in the Brazil basin which constitutes the majority of the Amazon. This is mostly for the needs of natural resources for the logging industry and land clearing for agricultural and mining use. Cattle ranching has been one of the leading cause as well.

Between 1990-2001, the percentage of meat imports by Europe, that came from Brazil, increased multi-fold.

By 2003, the growth in Brazilian cattle production was largely export driven, for the first time ever.

In 2018, Brazil exported more than 1.6 million tonnes of beef, particularly to China and Hong Kong, highest volume in recorded history.

All this comes down to the Ranchers, who wait untill the dry season, to slash and burn the forest area to give time for the cattle to graze. While slash-and-burn can be controlled, unskilled farmers may end up causing wildfires.

With the temperatures rising and the drought getting worse, it only adds to the number of fires taking place in Amazon.

Past data from INPE has shown the number of fires with the Brazil area of Amazon from January to August in any year to be routinely higher than 60,000 fires from 2002 to 2007 and as high as 90,000 in 2003. Fire counts have generally been higher in years of drought (2007 and 2010), which are often coupled with El Nino events. (Source: Wikipedia)

The government of Brazil along with other agencies infested various measures to fight the fires and control deforestation through land use regulation. And it did show results as the rate of deforestation in the area dropped 83.5% of their 2004 rates by 2012. But with the economic crisis hitting in 2014, it all reversed, as the economy relied heavily on its beef and soy exports to recover. With the election of Jair Bolsonaro as the President of Brazil, it got even worse. Since his election in January 2019, the government has changed various policies only to help land grabbers and ranchers to continue to slash-and-burn for their benefits. A cut of US $23 million from Brazil's environmental enforcement agencies by Bolsonaro's ministries has made it even more difficult for these agencies to carry out their regulation work.

Now, why are we debating on these forest fires ? Its because the role of trees to safeguarding our planet from heat and in turn global warming, is immense. Collectively, these forests are a major force in keeping the effects of global warming to a level of sustaining life on earth. Trees play a key role in reducing the pollutant levels. Say for example, Carbon Dioxide (CO2), a gas which has been pumped massively in the last 150 years into the air, by burning fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas, is a major driver to global climate change.

What plants does is, they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere to grow and releases Oxygen in the air. With such massive tropical rain forests, our planet is dependent on them to keep the levels of pollutants such as CO2 under check. Otherwise in which case, the climate change will get even worse than today.

At the same time, what forests take from air, they can also give back. When forests burn, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide is released back in the air and thereby only adding to, which is already in excessive quantity.

Source: INPE

All these pollutants and the smoke affects human lives in the most disastrous of ways. It can not only lead to breathing problems but can also exacerbate patients with asthma and bronchitis, besides also posing a risk of cancer. The wildlife takes a huge toll in the process, with a few species already vanishing out because of these fires. This in-turn alters the whole ecosystem, the effects of which can be more catastrophic in the long term.

One way to tackle it, as a global resident, is to reduce the beef consumption. Choosing your food more ethically and throwing away less, will help reduce the pressure on our ecosystem. Another way is to reduce the wood and paper consumption, as much as we can. This again will reduce the commercial pressure on these forests. And ofcourse, the local awareness is vital.

As responsible citizens of this planet, least we can do is leave it as we inherited !