The Amazon rainforest is blanketed in plumes of smoke as fires rage in parts of the rainforest, endangering the so-called “lungs of the planet” and the wide array of life forms that it is home to.
The plumes of smoke, visible from outer space, sparked international panic, calls for action, and accusations flying about what or who was responsible for the fire.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in particular, has come under intense scrutiny for his controversial management of Brazil’s largest share of the rainforest.
Al Jazeera answers some of the key questions raised about the crisis in the Amazon, one of the greatest natural treasures on Earth.
Where are the fires?
Fires are raging in several states in the Brazilian part of the Amazon rainforest.
The northern regions of Roraima, through Amazonas, Acre, Rondônia and Mato Grosso do Sul, were severely affected.
Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has detected more than 9,500 new forest fires in Brazil since August 15 alone, while atmospheric monitoring agencies have spotted smoke from the Amazon drifting thousands of kilometers across the Latin American giant to the Atlantic coast and Sao Paulo, briefly turning day into night in Brazil’s largest city on Monday.
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