Thousands of fires are burning in the drought-wracked Amazon

Much of Brazil is burning as tens of thousands of fires rage around the country, half of them in the Amazon rainforest. Exacerbated by a severe drough...

Much of Brazil is burning as tens of thousands of fires rage around the country, half of them in the Amazon rainforest. Exacerbated by a severe drought, the fires threaten one of the world’s most crucial ecosystems and are consuming the Amazon’s vast stores of carbon, sending more of the damaging greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

2.4 million hectares (about 6 million acres) of forests, fields and pastures in the Amazon burned between June and August. There were more than 95,000 hot spots in the Amazon biome this year to Sept. 18, according to data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, known as Inpe.

The fires emitted 31.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent between June and August, says the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, or Ipam. That represents an annual increase of 60% and is roughly on par with the emissions from running eight coal-fired power plants for a year.

The Amazon is one of the world’s most important carbon sinks, said Lucas Ferrante, a biologist and researcher at both Sao Paulo University and the Federal University of Amazonas. "Now, it is emitting carbon,” he said. "We are at a turning point.”

Although fires are common during the country’s dry season, this year’s anomalies are a red flag for experts.