Amazon rainforest burning at a record rate

Wildfires raging in the Amazon rainforest have hit a record number this year, with 72,843 fires detected so far by Brazil's space research center INPE, as concerns grow over right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro's environmental policy.

The surge marks an 83% increase over the same period of 2018, the agency said on Tuesday, and is the highest since records began in 2013.

Scientists warn that it could strike a devastating blow to the fight against climate change.

The Amazon is often referred to as the planet's lungs, producing 20% of the oxygen in the earth's atmosphere.

It is considered vital in slowing global warming, and it is also home to uncountable species of fauna and flora. Roughly half the size of the US, it is the largest rainforest on the planet.

Dramatic images and videos on social media show giant plumes of smoke rising from the greenery, and lines of fire leaving blackened waste in their wake.

The smoke has reached all the way to Sao Paolo, more than 1,700 miles away. Images from the city show the sky pitch black in the middle of the afternoon, the sky and sun blanketed by smoke and ash.

Asked about the spread of uncontrolled fires, Bolsonaro brushed off criticism, saying it was the time of the year of the "queimada" or burn, when farmers use fire to clear land.

"I used to be called Captain Chainsaw. Now I am Nero, setting the Amazon aflame. But it is the season of the queimada," he told reporters.

The Amazon river stretches across several of these South American countries, but the majority -- more than two-thirds -- of the rainforest lies in Brazil.

According to the INPE, more than one and a half soccer fields of Amazon rainforest are being destroyed every minute of every day.

Environmental groups have long been campaigning to save the Amazon, blaming Brazil's far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, for the endangerment of the vital rainforest. They accuse him of relaxing environmental controls in the country and encouraging deforestation.

Bolsonaro's environmental policies have been controversial from the start. A former army captain, he made campaign promises to restore the country's economy by exploring the Amazon's economic potential.