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Devastating images show indigenous Amazon tribe's home wrecked by fire

Joe Gamp
·Contributor, Yahoo News UK
Updated
Indigenous people from the Mura tribe show a deforested area in unmarked indigenous lands inside the Amazon rainforest near Humaita, Amazonas State, Brazil August 20, 2019. Picture taken August 20, 2019. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Land in the rainforest is being burned for mining and farming, with an area the size of football pitch destroyed every minute (REUTERS)

Heartbreaking images show an indigenous tribe looking on after their homes were destroyed by a fire in the Amazon rainforest.

The Mura tribe’s natural habitat has been destroyed by deforestation, while purposely lit wildfires are burning across Brazil.

The Brazilian government is setting deliberate fires across the rainforest in order to clear land for crops, cattle and, according to reports, property.

The state of Amazonas has declared an emergency as the fires rage out of control.

The images come as French President Emmanuel Macron declared the rainforest fires an 'international crisis' ahead of the G7 summit.

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The blazes have been burning for nearly three weeks - with an estimated area the size of a football pitch being wiped out every minute.

Mura tribesman Thiago Parintintin, who lives in a reserve near Humaita in the Amazonas state, said: “All you can see is smoke. It didn’t use to be like this.”

Camila Veiga, of the Brazilian Association of NGOs, said: “The fires are the consequence of a policy of environmental devastation, of support for agribusiness, of increasing pastures.”

REFILE - REMOVING EXTRA CHARACTERS An indigenous named Pedro Mura from the Mura tribe reacts in front a deforested area in nondemarcated indigenous land inside the Amazon rainforest near Humaita, Amazonas State, Brazil August 20, 2019. Picture taken August 20, 2019. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
A Mura tribesman looks on as the indigenous land he calls home is decimated (REUTERS)
Indigenous people from the Mura tribe react in front of a deforested in unmarked indigenous lands inside the Amazon rainforest near Humaita, Amazonas State, Brazil August 20, 2019. Picture taken August 20, 2019. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Indigenous people from the Mura tribe react in front of deforested land (REUTERS)

Recent data from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) revealed that fires across Brazil are up 85% this year, with many inside the Amazon.

President Macron, who is hosting this weekend’s G7 summit, said the fires should be made a a top priority on the agenda.

He tweeted: “Our house is burning. Literally. The Amazon rain forest - the lungs which produces 20% of our planet’s oxygen - is on fire.

“It is an international crisis. Members of the G7 Summit, let's discuss this emergency first order in two days! #ActForTheAmazon.”