Posted December 16th, 2020 for Purdue University Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, often for agricultural purposes, creates conditions that are conducive for fires. Researchers at Purdue University, the University of Lleida and the Forest Sciences Centre of Catalonia in Spain used remote sensing technology to show that 85% of the Amazon rainforest fires of 2019 were in areas that had been deforested just the year before. (Photo courtesy of André Dib.) WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. In 2019, unprecedented wildfires destroyed thousands of square miles of Amazon rainforest, roughly the size of New Jersey. The loss of biodiversity and invaluable habitats, release of carbon from the fires, and other socioeconomic and environmental consequences have concerned scientists around the world.