The Sky above Sao Paulo, Brazil is dark currently as the city and parts of the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Prana are covered clouds of smoke from wildfires raging in the Amazons.

Earlier this month, the largest state in Brazil declared emergency due to the rising number of forest fires. The situation is so bad that the smoke can be seen from space!

NASA released satellite images of the fires and smoke in Brazil and it shows the worlds BIGGEST RAINFOREST ON FIRE!!  According to the Global Fire Emissions Database, 8,668 fires have been detected in the Amazons as of Monday. That exceeds the past few years, and falls just short of the 2016 high of 8,836.

Countryside residents have begun complaining about the wildfire smoke as the air used to be clean in those regions. The Sao Paulo city that is thousands of miles away from the Amazonas is also currently filled with smoke and ashes. While the smoke from the fire threatens the health of those living nearby, more fires represent an added stressor for the Amazon rainforest as a whole, with the rise in deforestation in the past 5 years.

The humidity of the Amazon has, in the past, protected it against massive fires, but drought, deforestation, and agriculture could make fires so common that they would completely alter the landscape, a 2014 study warned. 

What about Malaysia? Are our forests safe? It is high time we rethink our forest protection policies. Our environment is something that we can never get back once lost. Let’s think before we act.

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Source: VICE