Amazon fires: Brazil bans burning for two months to defuse crisis
- Brazil’s president has been the subject of international criticism for fanning the flames of the Amazon’s destruction
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Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro signed a decree Wednesday to ban burning throughout the country for two months, government sources cited in local media said, as the authorities scramble to defuse the Amazon fires which have triggered a global outcry.
The decree, which will be officially published on Thursday, prohibits any burning for the next 60 days, barring some exceptions in cases of approved agricultural and forestry practices, media reports said.
It comes as Bolsonaro’s renewed demand that French leader Emmanuel Macron withdraw “insults” against him cast doubt on whether Brazil would accept the G7’s offer of US$20 million to help combat the fires.
Bolsonaro initially rejected the G7’s offer, saying on Tuesday that he would be willing to accept it only if Macron withdrew his “insults”, before appearing to change his mind to say Brazil would accept foreign aid on the condition that it controlled the money.
But later on Wednesday, the South American leader fired a fresh salvo.
“Only after he withdraws what he said ... we can talk again,” Bolsonaro told reporters on Wednesday, referring to Macron.
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“It seems that US$20 million is our price. Brazil doesn’t have a price of 20 million or 20 trillion – it’s the same thing for us,” he said.
Macron has accused Bolsonaro of lying to him about his commitments on climate change and vowed to block the EU-Mercosur trade deal involving Brazil that took decades to negotiate.
An aide to President Donald Trump said Wednesday the US was ready to assist with the Amazon crisis, but only if it involved the Brazilian government.
The outcry over the fires has alarmed industries in Latin America’s largest economy. They fear potential boycotts of their products.
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Global brands have threatened to suspend leather purchases from Brazil over the country’s environmental policies, according to a document sent by the Brazil Tanneries Industry Center to the government.
Bolsonaro on Wednesday supported Peru and Colombia’s proposal for an emergency Amazon summit in September so regional countries could coordinate a strategy to protect the vast rainforest.
The latest official figures show 1,044 new fires were started Monday and Tuesday, taking the total this year to 83,329 – the highest since 2010 – even as military aircraft and troops help battle the blazes.
More than half of the fires are in the massive Amazon basin.
In the hard-hit northwestern state of Rondonia, thick smoke has choked the capital Porto Velho as fires blacken swathes of the rainforest.
But the defence ministry insists the fires are under control. It has published satellite data it says show a reduction in the number of blazes in the nine states spanning the Amazon.
