The Savanna wildfires pose a threat to the world’s second-largest tropical forest, which spans 500 million acres and provides a home to more than 2,000 species of animals and roughly 10,000 species of plants. The MODIS images documented more than 6,902 fires in Angola and 3,395 fires in the DRC, while picking up on just over 2,000 in Brazil.
However, as both government leaders and environmental advocates point out, there are no clear comparisons to be made between the two regions.
But that doesn’t mean the flames are under control. “This is something we could experience again tomorrow if preventative measures are not taken today,” Irène Wabiwa Betoko, Greenpeace Africa Senior Forest Campaign Manager, told Newsweek on Tuesday.
If the fires got out of control, the surrounding governments in Africa “are not prepared financially—and also technically—to stop the fire,” Betoko noted.
The organization continues to stand against both the industrial activities of major corporations as well as slash-and-burn methods in favor of a more “sustainable form of agriculture.”
