Thousands of fires are ravaging the Amazon rainforest in Brazil – the most intense blazes for almost a decade. …So what’s actually happening and how bad are the fires? Brazil has seen a record number of fires in 2019, Brazilian space agency data suggests. The National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) says its satellite data shows an 85% increase on the same period in 2018. Forest fires … can be caused by naturally occurring events, such as by lightning strikes, but also by farmers and loggers clearing land for crops or grazing. …Most of the worst-affected regions are in the north of the country. …The Amazon Environmental Research Institute (Ipam) has stated the recent increase in the number of fires in the Amazon is directly related to deliberate deforestation. …Deforestation was 278% higher in July 2019 than in July 2018, according to Inpe. …But according to the data, emissions in Brazil were higher in the mid-2000s, as the chart below indicates.