Amazon fires: Brazil’s Bolsonaro warns ‘meddler’ Macron to ‘keep your nose out’
BRAZIL’s controversial right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro has admitted farmers may be torching the Amazon rainforest as wildfires continued to rage - but ordered the international community to keep its noses out.
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Mr Bolsonaro lashed out at “meddlers” after France’s President Emmanuel Macron took to Twitter to describe the situation as an “international crisis”, with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres also voicing criticism on social media. Meanwhile Brazil’s former environmental minister Marina Silva, who was beaten by Mr Bolsonaro in last year’s Presidential election, said the wildfires were “a crime against humanity”.
Prosecutors in Brazil are probing an advertisement in a local newspaper encouraging farmers to take part in a “fire day” during which they would burn large areas of the rainforest.
Posting on Facebook yesterday, Mr Bolsonaro said: “These countries that send money here, they don’t send it out of charity.
“They send it with the aim of interfering with our sovereignty.”
I regret that Macron seeks to make personal political gains in an internal matter for Brazil and other Amazonian countries
In a specific reference to Mr Macron, he later tweeted: “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.”
Nevertheless, Mr Bolsonaro has also said his country lacked the resources to battle the blaze without external help.
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He asked reporters: “The Amazon is bigger than Europe, how will you fight criminal fires in such an area?
“We do not have the resources for that.”
Fires in the Amazon have surged 83 percent so far this year compared with the same period a year earlier, government figures show.
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Although fires are a regular and natural occurrence during the dry season at this time of year, environmentalists blamed the sharp rise on farmers setting the forest alight to clear land for pasture.
Farmers may have had at least tacit encouragement from the firebrand right-wing president, who took power in January.
Bolsonaro has repeatedly said he believes Brazil should open the Amazon up to business interests, to allow mining, agricultural and logging companies to exploit its natural resources.
On Wednesday, he also blamed non-governmental organisations for setting the fires, without providing evidence.
He appeared to back track on Thursday, acknowledging farmers could be behind the fires.
Mr Macron tweeted: “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.
“Members of the G7 Summit, let’s discuss this emergency first order in two days!”
The G7 summit begins on Saturday in Biarritz, France. The Group of Seven rich countries does not include Brazil.
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Mr Guterres said he was “deeply concerned” by the fires, adding: “We cannot afford more damage to a major source of oxygen and biodiversity.”
Federal prosecutors in Brazil said they were investigating a spike in deforestation and wildfires raging in the Amazon state of Para to determine whether there has been reduced monitoring and enforcement of environmental protections.
Prosecutors said they would look into the ad, which called on farmers to start fires “to show Bolsonaro their willingness to work”
Brazil is facing growing international criticism over its handling of the Amazon, 60 percent of which lies in the country.
Earlier this month, Norway and Germany suspended funding for projects to curb deforestation in Brazil after becoming alarmed by changes to the way projects were selected under Bolsonaro.
At the time, when asked about the loss of German funding, Mr Bolsonaro said: “Brazil does not need that.”