The Amazon is burning – and Brazilians are blaming Bolsonaro
The Amazon is the “lungs of the world” – and it’s going up in smoke. There’s been an 83% increase in forest fires since early 2019, said Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) Wednesday. Many blame the policies of President Bolsonaro.
This dramatic surge in wildfires is partly due to the country’s dry season, but is also a consequence of rising deforestation under President Jair Bolsonaro's far-right administration.
Between January and August, 72,843 fires were detected, a huge increase on 39,759 during the whole of 2018. The hike comes after two consecutive years of a decline in the number of wildfires, and is the highest figure since 2013, according to INPE.
Darkened skies in Sao Paulo
On August 19, smoke from the forest fires even brought about a daytime eclipse in Sao Paulo, the biggest city in the country. For around an hour, the sky went dark as wind blew over smoke from forest fires raging in the states of Amazonas and Rondonia, more than 2,700 kilometres away.
Deforestation at work
Uncontrollable wildfires in the Amazon can be started accidentally during the “queimada” -- slash-and-burn clearing used to transform forest areas into cultivation and livestock areas, or to clean up already deforested areas, usually during the dry season that ends in two months.
Bolsonaro indicated that the queimada was to blame for the sudden rise in fires, but this has been refuted by environmentalists, who say that while the dry season provides ideal conditions in which fires can burn, fires can only be started in the first place by human intervention.
Bolsonaro under fire
Since Bolsonaro’s inauguration as president, his government has gradually chipped away at previously existing environmental protection laws. Previous governments had managed to get a handle on deforestation by cracking down on illegal actors with tougher regulations and fines.
International sanctions for Brazil
Bolsonaro is facing international pressure for his refusal to enact measures protecting the rainforest. Norway’s environment minister announced last week that it was freezing its €30 million ($33.2 million) contribution to the conservation Amazon Fund. A few days earlier, Germany also suspended a payment of 35 million euros, to be reinstated when deforestation figures are more encouraging.
Local governments in Amazonian states have protested against these sanctions. They are calling for financial aid to be managed by and paid out directly to the states themselves, rather than managed centrally by the development bank BNDES.
In a statement, regional governors said that they were “totally opposed to all illegal economic activity in the region” and that they would “speak directly to the countries” financing the Amazon protection funds.
In July, more than 1,340 square kilometres of Amazonian forest were destroyed, an area almost the size of Luxembourg. The destruction is rapid: it’s the equivalent of three football fields being destroyed every minute.
https://www.france24.com/en/20190821-brazil-amazon-burning-blame-bolsonaro-environment
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