Brazilian President Blames NGOs
As fires rage in the Amazon rainforest, Brazil's president has pointed the finger of blame at non-governmental organizations. For Bolsonaro, the destruction of tropical rainforests is a program to boost the country's economic growth.
The speech by the Brazilian environment minister was met with a ruckus of boos and whistles from the audience.
Ricardo Salles was in Salvador to give a speech, which is currently taking place during Latin American Climate Week. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had sent his minister to defend his policies on the Amazon; the minister was met with placards reading: “The Amazon is burning.”
Brazil is currently witnessing the most severe forest fires in recent years. Large parts of the southern Amazon and the Pantanal (the world's largest tropical wetland) are engulfed in flames. The situation is no better in Bolivia and Paraguay, with forests burning all the way to the border with Argentina. But the intensity of the fires is nowhere as severe as in Brazil, according to data from space agencies and NASA satellite images.
Cause of fires: Humans and drought
In the first half of August alone, 9,500 fires have been recorded, bringing the total number of fires since the beginning of the year to 72,000. Comparing this figure with the previous year's figures shows an 80 percent increase in fires.
The situation is worsening as a drought continues in some areas where it has not rained for weeks. In these areas, a spark is enough to ignite the flames. But the Brazilian office of the environmental organization Greenpeace points to human factors as the cause of the fires. Marcio Castrini of Greenpeace Brazil says there is a clear link between the fires and the sharp increase in deforestation in the Amazon, and believes that the current Brazilian government, led by Bolsonaro, is contributing to the deforestation process.
Bolsonaro wants growth instead of protecting the forests. For him, clearing the Amazon for agriculture, mining and infrastructure development is a kind of economic development program. On August 10, landowners in the state of Pará held a “Day of Fires,” shortly after which, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Studies, the number of fires in the region suddenly increased.
Brazilian environmental activists say the government's message is that perpetrators and those responsible for "environmental crimes and violations" will not be punished. At the same time, the government has limited legal tools to combat these violations, according to the activists.
Pointing the finger of blame at environmental protection organizations
The government views anyone who criticizes the president's environmental policies as an enemy. For example, Germany and Norway have stopped funding for the protection of tropical rainforests. The Brazilian president has gone even further, accusing environmental organizations of starting the fires themselves in retaliation for the government's cuts to their funding. Bolsonaro has said that the act "could be a criminal act by non-governmental organizations that want to draw attention to me and the Brazilian government." He sees himself at "war" with these organizations.
Marcio Astrini, a Greenpeace activist in Brazil, rejects this "baseless claim" and says that the government is trying to distract people from its own responsibility with these accusations.
The president is now planning to send troops to the areas affected by the fires. The best weapon against the raging flames is rain. But experience shows that with September coming, Brazil is facing its driest month of the year. The extent of the fires is likely to widen in the coming weeks.
Source: DW
