The Amazon is Burning

A fire in the Amazon rainforest near Humaita, in Amazonas state, Brazil, August 17, 2019. Image credit: Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

The Amazon rainforest is burning at a record rate. The fires are so big that you can see the smoke from NASA space satellites.

On Saturday, Brazil’s legendary indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire (right) accused Jair Bolsonaro of wanting to destroy the Amazon rainforest and called for international help to put out the raging fires. 

The elderly Kayapo chief, internationally recognizable through his traditional lip plate and feather headdress, accused the Brazilian president of emboldening farmers, loggers and miners and called for his removal from power – as a global outcry over the blazes ignites protests around the world. 

Brazilians often demonstrate but rarely over environmental issues. But on Friday, they did just that:

Anyway, Raoni's remarks came as Bolsonaro (left) authorized the deployment of the armed forces to help put out the fires. 

Amazon Watch's Christian Poirier too, had blamed Bolsonaro for his policies that prioritize agribusiness over people, especially indigenous people. 

The latest official figures show 76,720 forest fires were recorded in Brazil so far this year – the highest number for any year since 2013 – which experts blame on accelerating deforestation as land is cleared during the months-long dry season to make way for crops or grazing. 

More than half are in the Amazon. 

And around 700 new fires were ignited between Wednesday and Thursday, according to the National Institute for Space Research. 

I say it again. The Amazon is burning – and Brazil needs urgent international help, whether Bolsonaro knows it or not!