More Fires Burning in Central Africa Than Amazon
As the forest fires in South America’s Amazon rain-forest blaze on, concurrent disastrous fires are raging in large swathes of Central Africa and parts of Southern Africa.
One of the regions at risk is the Congo Basin forest, the second largest tropical rain-forest in the world. The majority of the rain-forest is in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The region absorbs a great deal of carbon dioxide and hosts rich and diverse animal and plant life.
NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) technology estimates that there are around five times as many fires burning in Africa than in the Amazon rain-forest.
During the G7 summit, French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted about the current devastation running through the savanna and wondered aloud why the African fires weren’t getting as much air time or attention as the Amazon fires.
Currently, the individual blazes are confined to the savanna, but many experts fear that the flames could spread into close proximity with the Congo Basin and wreak havoc. The second-largest tropical forest makes up 500 million acres and is home to more than 2,000 species of animals and 10,000 species of plants.
SOURCE ⇒ THINKBIG
