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- The Amazon rainforest has been reeling under fires prompting global concerns.
- According to Brazilian Space Research Agency (INPE), more than 74,000 fires have been recorded in the Amazon region between January and August 2019. There has been an 84% increase in the number of fires compared with the same period in 2018
- According to scientists from the University of Maryland, most of the fires are on agricultural land where the forest had already been cleared.
- The Amazon rainforest is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America.
- The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil (60%), followed by Peru Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.
- The Amazon is often referred to as the ‘lungs of the planet’ due to its vital role in oxygen production.
