The Amazon rainforest has been ravaged by hundreds of fires for the past 3 weeks, and the Brazilian government has deployed 44,000 troops to battle the blazes.
Why it matters: World leaders at the G7 summit have pledged a $20 million aid package to help affected South American countries fight the blazes. The BBC notes that from 1980 to 2010, the rainforest's trees are estimated to have pulled in carbon dioxide equivalent to the fossil fuel emissions of most of the 9 countries that own or border it.
Forest is cleared with fire in the surroundings of Boca do Acre, a city in Amazonas state, in the Amazon basin in northwestern Brazil, Aug. 24. Photo: Lula Sampaio/AFP/Getty Images A farm worker in Nova Santa Helena municipality in northern Mato Grosso state, south of the Amazon basin in Brazil, Aug. 23. Photo: Joao Laet/AFP/Getty Images Burned areas of the Amazon near Boca do Acre, in the Amazon basin, Brazil, Aug. 24. Photo: Lula Sampaio/AFP/Getty Images Fire in the Amazon rainforest, near Abuna, Rondonia state, Brazil, Aug. 24. Photo: Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images Cattle graze near a burned area of the Amazon near Novo Progresso, Para state, Brazil, Aug. 25. Photo: Joao Laet/AFP/Getty Images Fire burns out of control at a farm in Nova Santa Helena, northern Mato Grosso state, in the Amazon basin, Brazil, Aug. 23. Photo: Joao Laet/AFP/Getty Images Go deeper: Earth's lungs are burning
