Amazon fires: Why issues around forest are complex, what Brazil is doing

The fight against deforestation in Brazil has been extremely successful since 2005.

Smoke from an area of the Amazon forest in Brazil on September 17. (Reuters)

Raging forest fires in the Amazon rainforests of Brazil have made international headlines in the last few weeks. Some reports suggest there were more than 50,000 incidents of forest fires in the Amazon since January this year, along with an alarming increase in deforestation. The forest fires have been spotted even by satellites in space, and have led to worries over a significant rise in greenhouse gas emissions, because of the reduced absorption of carbon dioxide.