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The Last Word with Matt Cooper
The Amazon rainforest in Brazil has had a record 70,000 fires since the beginning of this year. It has already far exceeded the total number of fires in the region for 2018, which was around 40,000, and there have been about 9,500 fires in the last seven days alone. The Brazilian city of Sao Paulo was plunged into darkness at 3pm on Monday afternoon due to the level of smoke filling the skies. The Amazon rainforest covers an area of 5.5 million square kilometers, and is 65 times larger than the island of Ireland. To date, approximately 20% of the forest has been completely destroyed, mostly by loggers and farmers. Environmental journalist John Gibbons joined us to explain why this series of fires should be a matter of great global concern. Listen to the interview in full by pressing the play button on this page.