THE Amazon rainforest is so far from us, on the opposite side of the planet, separated from us on one side by the Pacific Ocean and on the other side by the Asian and African continents and the Atlantic Ocean, that we are likely to ignore it. But what is happening there today – raging forest fires – may well affect the entire world, including us in our islands.
Fires have been raging fiercely these last eight months all over the Amazon rainforest, mostly in Brazil but also in Paraguay and Bolivia. Satellite images show smoke from the forest fires racing across the entire South American continent. The number of wildfires this year is said to be 84 percent greater than last year.
On the eve of the summit of Group of 7 (G7) nations in France this weekend, French President Emmanuel Macron called the Amazon forest fires an international crisis and urged their inclusion in the G7 agenda. Germany and Norway had earlier cited Brazil’s apparent lack of commitment to fight deforestation and decided to withhold $60 million they had earmarked for Brazilian forest sustainability projects.
Brazil President Jair Bolsonario has fired back at all critics, accusing Macron of seeking political gains. His chief of staff accused the European countries of exaggerating Brazil’s environmental problems. But, yielding somewhat to the growing world concern, Bolsonario last Friday authorized the deployment of the country’s armed forces to help fight the fires.
The world’s concern over the Amazon fires is based on fears that life on the entire planet may well be affected if the fires continue unabated. The Amazon rainforest produces 20 percent of the entire world’s oxygen. Its millions of trees absorb and process the carbon dioxide produced by industries around the world and convert it into oxygen.
Industrialization has boosted the carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere, causing earth’s temperatures to rise. The world’s nations which met in Paris in 2015 resolved to act on the problem, with each nation submitting a plan of action to help reduce the production of carbon dioxide so as to limit the rise in world temperature to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The world’s icebergs in the polar regions have already begun to melt. The world’s ocean levels are rising as a result, threatening low-lying islands, including some of ours in the Philippines. The heat has also produced stronger typhoons and other storms that have caused so much more destruction on our islands.
The continuing fires in the Amazon rainforest are also affecting the world’s climate by reducing the oxygen the forest trees are producing. The rainforest, occupying about 40 percent of the land aea of South America, is also the source of 25 percent of the world’s fresh water. It is the home of more than half of the world’s estimated 10 million species of plants, animals, and insects.
This is why the Amazon forest fires are so important to us. They may be on the other side of the globe, but if they continue to destroy so many trees, the rainforest – so often called the “Lungs of the World” – will no longer be able to play this life-giving role in our world today.
