The 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires season saw a year-to-year surge in fires occurring in the Amazon rainforest and Amazon biome within Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru during that year's Amazonian tropical dry season.

1. And W hy It’s All Over The
N e ws And The Internet.

3. South
America State of Amazonas
• Amazon rainforest, also called
Amazonia, is a moist broadleaf
forest in the Amazon biome that
covers most of the Amazon basin
of South America.
• Majority of the forest is within
Brazil (60%), followed by Peru
(13%), Colombia (10%) and with
minor amounts in Venezuela,
Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana,
Suriname and the French
Guiana.
• State of Amazonas is covered
almost entirely by the rainforest.
Houses many indigenous tribes
of the Amazon.
• If the Amazon Rainforest was a
country, it would’ve ranked 9th in
size.

4. FUN FACT: THE AMAZON IS
HOME TO MORE THAN 10% OF
KNOWN SPECIES IN THE
WORLD.  Home to 30 million plus people.
 9% (2.7 million) is still made up of
indigenous tribes – more than 350
ethnic tribal groups.
 Many undiscovered species.
 There are 10 million species of all
life known to man, half of them call
the Amazon home.
 Represents 60% of the world’s
remaining forests.
1500
bird
species.
40,000
plant
species.
2.5
million
insect
species.
3000
species of
freshwat-
er marine
life.
500 types
of
mammalsr
eptiles and
amphibia-
ns.
Numerou
s
savannas
and
ecosyste-
ms.

5. HOW BAD ARE THE
FIRES?
• Although wildfires are common, they seem to hit around 20,000 during the dry season.
• Dry season in the Amazon starts by the mid of September.
• More than 74,000 fires already in 2019. Fires have been raging since the start of August.
• 84% higher compared to last year.
• INPE data suggests 9000 forest fires were detected since 15th August, 2019.
• Smoke from the fires can be seen from space.
• City of Sao Paulo went under darkness during the day because of the smoke.

7. Brazilian President Jair
Bolsonaro.
Elected in 2018.
Former army captain.

8. • His policies promote economic
exploration of the Amazon, thus
deforestation has increased in
the Brazilian Amazon.
• His tenure has also seen less
action taken against illegal
logging and other environmental
crimes.
• Deforestation has accelerated
since he took office.
• Claims fires are set by NGOs,
provided no evidence.
• In early August, he sacked the
head of the INPE, accusing him
of lying about deforestation data.

10. Large sums of money through
the Amazon Fund have been
waived.
At the G7 summit in Biarritz,
Bolsonaro rejected offers of
help to aid in extinguishing
the fires.
Financial help to
environmental groups has
been reduced. (Reports suggest
$23 Million reduction)
Bolivian Pres. Evo Morales
also under scrutiny.
Farmers and ranchers hosted a
“Day of Fire” in Para, Brazil in
order to show support for
Bolsonaro.

11. WHAT IF WE LOSE THE
AMAZON?
Huge amount of bio-
diversity would be lost. 31
million people live off of
resources from the Amazon.
Hundreds of prescription
drugs come from the
Amazon. Inclusive of
Cancer fighting drugs.
Less than only 5% plants
from the rainforest have
been studied for potential
medicinal uses.
Estimated 90 to 140 billion
tons of CO2 would be
released if the forest
completely burns down.
Climate change would be
imminent and inevitable.

12. Tremendous negative impact in the
rain. (Process of
transpiration/evopo transpiration).
A single Oak tree can create 40,000
gallons of water a year.
Plants use only 3% of water and
the rest is released into the
atmosphere. 10-15% of water in the
atmosphere is given by plants.
No plant life, no rain.
Impacts can be felt till the North
American west coast (Sierra
Nevadas).
• 390 billion trees would be down if 100% of the Amazon is cleared.
• So much CO2 in the atmosphere would translate into more CO2 in the oceans, making it more acidic.
• Drastic degrees of erosion, because no plants to absorb water. Fertile soil loss, hence economical loss.
Amazon basin is the largest drainage basin in the world.

13. THE RAINFOREST WOULD
NOT RETURN.
No trees, no rain. Rainforest cannot survive.
The forest would not be able to create suitable climate conditions.
“Global Cooling System” will instead emit CO2.
Once lost, it can’t be regained.
There will be large grasslands or barren lands which are useless.
Wild grasslands, barren savannas, dry climate.
Same latitude

14. Hashtags like #PrayForAmazon, #AmazonForestFire, #SaveTheAmazon, were trending all
over the world as soon as news about the fire broke out.
Celebrities raised awareness on social media by posting about the extent of the fire.
Protests were held at Brazilian embassies all over the world in cities like Paris, Berlin, Mexico
City, London, etc.
Brazil placed a ban on starting new fires for 60 days.
Several high profile clothing brands like H&M, Gucci have stopped buying leather from Brazil.
Several donations were made to NGOs who are trying to curb the destruction of the Amazon.

15. French PM Emmanuel Macron raised the issue at G7 Summit.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also supported Macron.
Ireland joined in the conversation by threatening economic repercussions for Brazil and its South
American neighbors.
Norway halted payments of $1.2 Billion to Amazon Conservation Programme after Bolsonaro’s
government interfered.
In response to worldwide unrest, Brazil deployed its army to combat the fires.
Bolivia also sent in forces to fight the fires.
Many nations pledged their forces to help put the fires out.

16. No red meat.
Amazon is
burned
primarily for
the beef
industry.
You can
donate $1 for
tree to
“onetreeplante
d.org”.
Segregating
your waste.
Donating to
frontline
Amazon groups
working
directly in and
for the forest.
Voting for the
right leaders
who
understand the
urgency of our
climate crisis
and are willing
to take bold
action.