While the whole world is concentrated on
the global pandemic of Coronavirus, the

deforestation of the Amazonian forest has
accelerated.

Between January and April 2020 : 1 202 km² of the forest were destroyed !

In 2019, Jair Bolsonaro’s first year in office, deforestation rise to 85% in the Brazilian Amazon, with the destruction of 10.123 km². 1,202 square kilometres of forest disappeared from early January to late April 2020. This represents an increase of 55% compared to the same period in 2019.

With deforastation, fires in the Amazonian rainforest are often intentionally caused to clear and fertilize the land.
This is called the burning method. When fires escape their instigators, they can attack the forest. They become very difficult to contain. Between January and August 2019, 73,000 fires were recorded in Brazil.

Now I’m going to give a quick biology lesson, that Jair Bolsonaro ( the President of Brazil ) might need.

It’s the tree leaves that create oxygen. They need raw materials and energy to function, for that trees use the water they draw from the soil through their roots, and carbon dioxide that they capture in the air though tiny holes in their leaves. For energy, they use sunlight, thanks to small grains that give the green colour to their leaves. With all these elements, trees make their food grow, make flowers and produce fruits. But this recipe forces the trees to produce more oxygen than it uses to breathe, so it releases it in the air. Of course, all of this stop when it’s the night, or when trees have no leaves, and when they’re damaged by pollution or cut down.
What a coincidence we need oxygen to live, and we release carbon dioxide that they use.
And yet, Jair Bolsonaro still says that this forest was « non-productive », a genius !

Plus, this forest is the biggest in the world, that’s why we call it the "lung of the planet", it’s the one which produces the most oxygen. It spans nine countries ( Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana ) covering an area of 6,700,000 km². This forest is vital to the fight against climate change.
Also, the river that passes through the Amazonian rainforest is the largest of the world and the longuest.