The Amazon rainforest is on fire. Here's what that means for the environment

It's twice the size of India, according to the World Wildlife Fund, and it's the largest remaining tropical rainforest in the world. It's home to at least 10% of the world's biodiversity, produces 20% of the world's oxygen and helps regulate the temperature of the whole planet.

Here are some ways the Amazon rainforest helps the environment, and what these devastating fires could mean for climate change.The Amazon contains 90 to 140 billion metric tons of carbon, according to WWF. Too much carbon in the atmosphere is one of the main reasons behind climate change. Before the fires, land conversion and deforestation made the Amazon release up to 0.5 billion metric tons of carbon per year, according to the WWF. Depending on the damage from these fires, that release would increase, accelerating climate change even further.Water is released by plants into the atmosphere, and also to the ocean through the Amazon's rivers. Weather patterns are largely driven by ocean currents, according to NOAA.

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