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‘Our house is on fire’

Saturday 24 August 2019

The Independent

 

News

‘Our house is on fire’

World leaders stand up to Brazil as blazes devastate the Amazon – with Bolsonaro accused of fuelling the crisis

Smoke rises from a 2km stretch of fire yesterday in north Brazil
(AFP/Getty)
Europe Correspondent

Global leaders united yesterday in condemnation of Brazil’s handling of the fires sweeping the Amazon rainforest.

The country’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has been blamed for his response to the blazes that scientists say are man-made, with French president Emmanuel Macron declaring the fires an international crisis.

Angela Merkel and Boris Johnson backed calls for the issue to be discussed at this weekend’s G7 summit, while France also vowed to block an EU trade deal with Brazil and its neighbours over the issue.

Mr Macron tweeted on Thursday night: “Our house is burning. Literally. The Amazon rain forest – the lungs which produces 20% of our planet’s oxygen – is on fire. It is an international crisis.”

Ms Merkel described the fires as “shocking and threatening” and said she was convinced the issue should be on the G7’s agenda, her spokesperson said.

Conservationists say Mr Bolsonaro, who was elected on a pro-business platform, has encouraged the setting of fires as part of his pro-business programme. Brazil’s space research centre, INPE, has detected 72,843 fires in the Amazon so far this year – an 84 per cent rise compared to the same period in 2018.

Mr Bolsonaro, who was elected last year, said last night that he will deploy federal troops to fight the fires. He blamed dryer-than-normal weather for the spike in fire outbreaks this year.

Donald Trump also spoke to Mr Bolsonaro last night, offering support to fight the blaze. “Just spoke with President Jair Bolsonaro,” the US president tweeted yesterday. “Our future Trade prospects are very exciting and our relationship is strong, perhaps stronger than ever before. I told him if the United States can help with the Amazon Rainforest fires, we stand ready to assist!”

As the world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon is a vital store of carbon and a key weapon in the fight against climate change. 

The interventions came as crowds gathered at Brazilian embassies across the world to protest the destruction of the rainforest.

Macron has led the charge against the Brazilian government (Reuters)

The EU-Mercosur trade deal with Brazil was reached agreement in principle earlier this year after 20 years of negotiation. Mercosur is a trade bloc that includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, with Venezuela also a member but suspended since 2016.

If the deal is ratified it would be the largest trade deal struck by both the EU and Mercosur in terms of population.

Yesterday, Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s prime minister, also indicated that his country could try to block the EU trade deal. “There is no way that Ireland will vote for the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement if Brazil does not honour its environmental commitments,” Mr Varadkar said.

A spokesperson for Mr Macron added: “The president can only conclude President Bolsonaro lied to him at the Osaka [G20] summit.”

Both Ireland and France would need support from other member states to form a blocking minority to veto the deal.

On Thursday, Mr Macron called for the issue to be discussed at the G7 summit, branding it an international emergency.

But the Brazilian president criticised him, stating: “I regret that Macron seeks to make personal political gains in an internal matter for Brazil and other Amazonian countries. The sensationalist tone he used does nothing to solve the problem.” 

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro is accused of encouraging the destruction (Reuters)

The Brazilian leader also said Mr Macron’s suggested G7 talks betrayed a “colonialist mindset”.

“The French president’s suggestion that Amazonian issues be discussed at the G7 without the participation of the countries of the region evokes a misplaced colonialist mindset in the 21st century,” he said.

Boris Johnson stopped short of saying he wouldn’t sign a trade deal with Brazil, telling reporters in a visit to southwest England: “I passionately share the view of Emmanuel Macron, and one of the things I am going to be raising at the G7 is the horrific loss of habitats and species around the world.

“We are going through an extinction of diversity, of biodiversity across the planet, we are down to about 15,000 lions left in the wild, perhaps 3,000 tigers in India, the population of elephants has declined at about 8 per cent a year.

“What we in the UK want to do is lead the world now in setting targets for the retention, the maintenance, and the improvement of habitat, and stop this terrible loss of biodiversity, so set targets for keeping the species that we inherited on this planet.”

Indigenous groups living within the Amazon have tried desperately to save the land. Many blame illegal ranchers for setting the fires, and conservation groups believe the crisis is man-made. They also believe the Bolsonaro government has tacitly encouraged people to set the fires in order to clear the land for economic development.