Major fires hit the Amazon and the Arctic for the second year in a row

By Adam Vaughan

Firefighters tackle a blaze in the Amazon region of Otuquis, Bolivia, in August 2019

Gaston Brito/dpa/Alamy Live News

For the second year running, vital ecosystems are in flames. Several major fires in the Amazon have been spotted ahead of the rainforest’s typical fire season, and it seems likely that 2020 will see worse blazes than the ones which triggered international outcry last year.

Fires are also raging across frozen tundra in the Arctic, sending smoke around the world and releasing CO2. These too could match or eclipse last year’s record-breaking blazes there.

Worldwide, this is shaping up …