Brazilian War Planes Dump Water on Amazon Fires
Brazilian war planes began dropping water on fires in the Amazon rainforest, the Brazilian Air Force announced on August 25.
Thousands of fires had been burning in the Amazon for weeks, allegedly due to farmers and businesses clearing land for beef cattle, CNN reported.
The Brazilian Air Force said it deployed two C-130 Hercules airplanes. The decision to use the aircraft came after global outcry at President Jair Bolsonaro’s lax response to the record number of blazes burning in the Amazon.
World leaders, including UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President of France Emmanuel Macron, also shared their concerns over the fires.
This video, released by the Brazilian Air Force, shows a war plane dumping water on forest area in the state of Rondônia.
Ecologists quoted by National Geographic linked the record number of fires to an increase in deforestation.
Earlier in August, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research said that more forest had been lost in the summer of 2019 than in the previous three years combined.
It is estimated that the Amazon rainforest produces 20 percent of the planet’s oxygen. Credit: Brazilian Air Force (Força Aérea Brasileira) via Storyful
