The Amazon river flowed tranquilly, parting each animal’s habitat as it had been for the last 2.4 million years. Beaming onto this rainforest paradise, a vibrant array of birds hovered across the vegetation, gliding alongside the wind. Their shadows provided a brisk cover from the scorching sun to the animals residing in this bliss. Soon after, a dense slate cloak of ash began to cover the canopy, draining the exuberance of the life below. What was this? A blistering inferno, searing the last breaths of the biodiversity in the Amazon.

This fire is not just an antagonist in a descriptive story - this was a real fire which is estimated to kill nearly 17 million creatures throughout the wildfires in the Pantalan region of Brazil in 2020. 

And this is not the end.

A tropical rainforest area four times the size of London was destroyed in 2020. Wildfires are unplanned, unwanted, burning in a natural setting, spreading at rapid rates. In 2020, 30% of the world’s largest tropical wetland was destroyed. The deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest lowered the rates of photosynthesis, leading to a significantly drier climate across the planet. 

Land is continuously being cleared as businesses prioritise short-term incentives over long-term sustainable development. The cost of conservation, property damage and insurance costs are not worth the risk. Politicians should make changes to their policy changes and priorities to mitigate any factors that could cause environmental damage. There are no borders for pollution; it can threaten everyone’s sovereignty, so we need to work together to protect our planet. The disruptions to agriculture, tourism and people’s livelihoods can impact whole communities and harm many generations to come. 

How does this impact me? Why do I care about something happening on the other side of the world? Well, because wildfires affect all people on the planet, and as we as humans become more aware of the damages, we need to take initiative and work to prevent further damage.

Wildfires instigate ‘dust enhancement’ and dust storms, causing major threats to respiratory health through diminishing air quality. With the greenhouse gases being emitted into the atmosphere and trees unable to absorb the CO2 released, wildfires can cause major changes to climate change, which impacts us all. Global temperatures rose about 1.1°C from 1901 to 2020, but this also impacts sea level rise, droughts, flooding, and causes shortages to things we need for survival, like energy, water, agriculture, and ecosystems.

You might think to yourself, do wildfires in such a ‘remote’ area such as Pantalan matter so much to the wildlife? You’d be surprised to know that the Pantalan spans 140,000 to 160,000 kilometres squared. To compare, the area of 95 Londons combined covers the Pantalan. Deep within this region, the Pantalan is home to 3,500 plants, 656 birds, 325 fish, 159 mammals, 53 amphibians and 98 reptile species. Amidst the 2020 wildfires, this inferno surge burned down this tropical home, amounting to 28 Londons.

Picture this: there are currently 9.748 million people living in London. If 28 Londons burned down due to the blazing inferno, that accounts for 246.428 million deaths! While we, as humans, are capable of being informed of the early warning signs and escaping, these restless animals are not. All the 17 million animals in the 2020 wildfires were annihilated by fire. Something natural, right? Not in this case. This blitz was not naturally occurring. It was started by us. Developed. Ignited. Fueled. Can you imagine leaving the remains of your house that your ancestors inhabited for centuries to a world which is covered by a dense blanket of ash? Any traces of sunlight are blocked, with the only heat coming from the fires. And this is not localised to one area. This spans across the entirety of the Pantalan, much like two dozen Londons. 

Whilst wildfires do occur in Brazil’s dry season (March to November), they are deliberately started to illegally deforest land for cattle ranching. What does that mean? Cattle ranchers often use the ‘slash and burn’ method to make land for farms. This is when forested land is cleared and any remaining vegetation is burned. Although seen as traditional, being first invented 12,000 years ago, it is unsustainable. Vegetation is removed quicker than it can recover. In addition, multiple habitats are simultaneously cleared. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report estimates that up to 27,000 species per year can be driven to extinction globally due to habitat destruction. This is significantly encouraged by the ‘slash and burn’ agriculture practice. 

You might wonder, how do Brazilian authorities play into this? Well, the administration of Bolsonaro legitimised more than a hundred farms established illegally, which all happened to be located inside indigenous territories. Much to your surprise, burning and cutting virgin forests (forests which have never been logged) is illegal in Brazil. But, these laws have been weakened under Bolsonaro - he called government data on deforestation a “lie”. What does that say about Brazil’s leadership and attitude towards deforestation?

Tropical rainforests have dignified our world with their beauty for hundreds of millions of years, and are currently waning as victims of human-induced conflagrations, leaving barren land, void of life. Over 700 species of animals are endemic to the rainforest; these species only make up 25% of all of the species that inhabit the rainforest, out of which more than 20% are at risk of permanent extinction, never to be beheld by the human eye again. But how does the incineration of a beautiful habitat and the cruel butchery of billions of the world’s animals affect us? The disappearance of the rainforests also means the privation of ecological balance and the disruption of a vast interdependent ecosystem, which causes a huge loss in biodiversity. This affects our food supply, making it more vulnerable to pests as the arid, fiery landscape that displaces the ambrosial green rainforest provides an ideal environment for pests to breed and spread. This jeopardises our food supply. The increased pesticide used as a result only poses further risks to human health, as exposure to chemical pesticides are strongly linked with the development of illnesses such as cancer, heart, respiratory and neurological diseases.

Rainforests are not only home to animals, but hold over two thirds of the world’s plant species due to its high biodiversity, out of which hundreds of unknown species of plants alight, and are left unrecognised. These curative plants, currently burning to ash, could be the undiscovered solution to finding a cure to potentially terminal illnesses that affect humans globally. The ignition of these natural healers, as a result of human ignorance, could seed the loss of many lives to diseases that could’ve been cured by nature’s remedial herbs, which human activity devastated. In particular, the cruel flames have set alight the therapeutic plant Uña de Gato, also known as Cat’s Claw, dubbed by the Amazonian peoples as a ‘cure-all’ medicinal plant due to its incredible ability to treat any rheumatic pain, deep wounds, ulcers, toothaches, and dysentery. The root and plant of Cat’s Claw has been found to have chemicals that are able to stimulate the immune system, kill cancer cells and combat viruses.