Fires in the Amazon have sparked debate around the world, amplifying fears of climate change and the dire threat they pose for local Indigenous communities and the future sustainability of the planet.

These concerns are valid and real. Policies introduced by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro are widely recognized to have put the future of the Amazon rainforest in jeopardy.

The Amazon generates about half of its own rainfall by recycling rainfall moisture as air mass moves from the Atlantic to the west. Research shows that deforestation must be checked and reversed in the Amazon by reducing the deforested area to less than 20 percent to avoid the tipping point for deforestation-generated degradation of the hydrological cycle.

As the story about the Amazon fires…