Record number of Amazon wildfires lit on purpose, claims president of Brazil
Nearly 73,000 forest fires have been reported in the country so far this year.
34 minutes ago
THE RECORD NUMBER of wildfires blazing in the Amazon rainforest were lit on purpose by green groups, the president of Brazil has claimed.
Nearly 73,000 forest fires have been recorded in Brazil so far this year, according to official figures. This is the highest number since 2013.
#PrayforAmazonas was the top trending hashtag in the world on Twitter on Wednesday, with over 249,000 tweets.
There were nearly 40,000 forest fires in all of 2018, according to Brazils National Institute for Space Research (INPE).
Most of them took place in the Amazon, the worlds largest tropical rainforest.
The World Wildlife Fund has blamed the latest fires on the increase in deforestation in Brazil.
But president of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro responded to criticism today over the fires by saying he believed they had been lit on purpose.
Bolsonaro said that criminal action by those NGOs, to call attention against me, against the Brazilian government may be the reason for the forest fires.
More:
https://www.thejournal.ie/wildfires-in-the-amazon-rainforest-4776831-Aug2019/
Conservationists would burn up the Amazon and blame it on Bolsonaro????? That's doubtful.