Canada sending $15 million to help battle Amazon Rainforest fires

As wildfires continue to ravage the Amazon rainforest, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced Canada will be sending $15 million in resources to help battle the blazes.

Speaking to reporters on Monday at the G7 summit in France, Trudeau said he was “happy” to deliver the news, which also includes “sharing and sending down water bombers that are so significantly needed.”

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Flames have been sweeping through the Amazon Rainforest, leaving destruction in their wake, for over two weeks.

According to the Save the Amazon Coalition, nicknamed the “Lungs of our Planet,” the Amazon Rainforest provides more than 20% of the world’s oxygen. It continuously recycles carbon dioxide, and produces the rains that fuel its own growth, the World Economic Forum says.

The vast ecosystem is home to 10% of the known species on Earth, according to the World Wildlife Fund, and is described as a “critical piece of the climate solution” by the Rainforest Alliance.

The World Meteorological Organization shared the below NASA image on Twitter, showing views of the smoke’s travel from space.

NASA / Twitter

On Monday, Trudeau said that as Canada has had “many people come to help during “difficult [wildfire] years,” so too will Canada “support our friends in South America, as we fight a blaze that has impacts, not just on their region, but our entire planet.”

With files from Kayla Gladysz