MANAUS, Brazil (CNN) – The planet’s lungs are burning, more than 80,000 fires are destroying the Amazon.
World leaders and celebrities figures leading the charge for something to be done.
French President Emmanuel Macron pledged $20-million in emergency funds to help put out the flames and save the rainforest.
Aerial images show the planet’s lungs in flames and the smoke is so thick, that cameras struggle to capture the devastation.
“This is not just a forest that is burning, this is almost a cemetery. Because all you can see is death,” Rosana Villar, with Greenpeace, said.
A line of fire continues to move and expand, in some areas but this weekends G7 leaders are vowing to help contain the flames.
” The Amazon is the lung of the planet and the consequences are extremely dire for the planet. That is why we undertook an in-depth discussion on the subject as of Saturday night,” Emmanuel Macron said.
Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, also jumping into action and announcing the deployment of more than 40,000 troops to The Amazon that will help fight the fires.
This, after repeated denials that the fires posed a threat to the most biodiverse ecoregion on the planet.
But for some, the president’s actions are long overdue.
Ngo’s in the country blaming Bolsonaro for scaling back on environmental regulations that have likely encouraged deforestation by loggers and ranchers.
“The Amazon stocks 14 percent of the world’s CO2. So were we to lose the top lung of the planet would be disastrous. And we know that all countries are affected,” Macron said.