Wildfires raging in the Amazon Rainforest have hit a record number this year.
Brazil’s Space Research Center has detected 72,843 fires so far.
The agency said Tuesday the surge marks an 83-percent increase over the same period of 2018 and is the highest since records began in 2013.
It added that since last Thursday (Aug. 15) satellite images spotted 9,507 new forest fires in the country, mostly in the Amazon basin, home to the world’s largest tropical forest seen as vital to countering global warming.
Large portions of Brazil are covered in thick smoke.
The unprecedented surge in wildfires has occurred since President Jair Bolsonaro took office back in January vowing to develop the Amazon region for farming and mining, ignoring international concern over increased deforestation.
The Amazon Rainforest, one of the wettest places on Earth, is on fire.Siberia, one of the coldest places on Earth, is on fire.That aint normal.Climate change is for real and our planet is burning up. Humans are the cause of this deadly fever.#PrayforAmazonia pic.twitter.com/D6VCTaCNXt— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) August 20, 2019
