By Meg Wagner and Mike Hayes, CNN
From CNN's Jessie Yeung and Abel Alvarado
The Amazon is often referred to as the planet's lungs. It produces 20% of the oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere.
It is considered vital in slowing global warming, and it is home to uncountable species of fauna and flora.
Roughly half the size of the United States, it is the largest rainforest on the planet.
From CNN's Jessie Yeung
The National Institute for Space Research, Brazils's space research center said this week that the number of fires in Brazil are 80% higher than last year.
More than half of those are in the Amazon region — spelling disaster for the local environment and ecology.
Those fires are burning at the highest rate since the National Institute for Space Research began tracking them in 2013.
Why the Amazon matters: The Amazon forest produces about 20% of the world's oxygen, and is often called "the planet's lungs." According to the World Wildlife Fund, if it is irrevocably damaged, it could start emitting carbon instead -- the major driver of climate change.
From CNN's Paul P. Murphy
Satellite images show what the record-setting wildfires burning in Brazil look like from space.
The European Space Agency’s Sentinel satellite captures the image above. It shows just one of the wildfires burning near Conselvan, Brazil, according to Maxar technologies.
Another image from NASA used their MODIS sensor, which helps to detect wildfires and heat sources. This image shows how many fires were burning on Tuesday:
From CNN's Jessie Yeung
The Amazon is burning — and humans are likely to blame.
Environmental organizations and researchers say the wildfires blazing in the Brazilian rainforest were set by cattle ranchers and loggers who want to clear and utilize the land, emboldened by the country's pro-business president.
"The vast majority of these fires are human-lit," said Christian Poirier, the program director of non-profit organization Amazon Watch. He added that even during dry seasons, the Amazon — a humid rainforest — doesn't catch on fire easily, unlike the dry bushland in California or Australia.
Farmers and ranchers have long used fire to clear land, said Poirier, and are likely behind the unusually large number fires burning in the Amazon today.
