In NASA satellite images, forest fires in central Africa appear to burn alarmingly like a red chain from Gabon to Angola similar to the blazes in Brazil’s Amazon that sparked global outcry.

As the world has watched with fear and fascination the fires burning in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, satellite images show a far greater number of blazes on the African continent.

It's impossible to deny — humans are destroying the natural environment at an unprecedented and alarming rate.

Like millions of people in the western United States this week, I woke up to deep red, sunless skies, layers of ash coating the streets, gardens, and cars, and the smell of burning forests, lives, homes, and dreams. Not to be too hyperbolic, but on top of the political chaos, the economic collapse, and the worst pandemic in modern times, it seemed more than a little apocalyptic.

Veld fires have left two firefighters dead and destroyed more than two million hectares in the Free State, North West, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape this year. In neighbouring Namibia, 580,480ha was burnt.  

In the arid American West, wildfires now define summer. Recent years have seen some of the worst wildfires in recorded history.

Wildfires are an ancient force shaping the environment, but they have grown in frequency, range and intensity in response to a changing climate.

South Africa’s bushfires, exacerbated by climate change and prolonged droughts, have caused significant environmental damage.