(Photo Credit: Photo by Corpo de Bombeiros de Mato Grosso/AP/Shutterstock)

Man-made fires ravage Amazon Rainforest

Man-made wildfires are burning through the Amazon rainforest at an astounding rate, burning about three football fields of land per minute.

Thomas Lovejoy, a prominent ecologist, said that the effects of the fire could be devastating and impossible to reverse.

“This is without any question one of only two times that there have been fires like this,” Lovejoy told National Geographic. “There’s no question that it’s a consequence of the recent uptick in deforestation.”

Some believe that farmers may have started the wildfires by intentionally burning areas of land in order to clear them. The wildfires are releasing about 0.5 metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Jair Bolsonaro, the President of Brazil, urged other countries not to get involved and blamed his political opponents for setting the fires.

Bolsonaro had recently given the green light to cut down more of the Amazon for mining, logging, and other industry. Bolsonaro also lashed out at France’s President, Emmanuel Macron, for urging the G-7 countries to get involved, saying Macron had a “colonialist” mindset. He said Macron was trying to “make personal political gains in an internal matter for Brazil and other Amazonian countries.”

Experts warn that if the fires continue much longer, large areas of the Amazon could turn into a barren Savannah.