Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday authorized the deployment of Brazil’s armed forces to help combat fires in the Amazon rainforest, as a growing global outcry over the blazes sparks protests and threatens a huge trade deal.
Plumes of thick smoke rose into the sky above dense forest in the northwestern state of Rondonia, where bright orange flames from various fires were visible for kilometers, a photographer reported.
The fires in the world’s largest rainforest have sparked street protests around the planet and ignited a war of words between Bolsonaro and French President Emmanuel Macron, who has described the wildfires as an “international crisis” and vowed to block a trade agreement between the EU and South American nations.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Official figures showed that 76,720 forest fires were recorded in Brazil so far this year — the highest number for any year since 2013 — which experts blame on accelerating deforestation as land is cleared during the months-long dry season to make way for crops or grazing. More than half are in the Amazon.
About 700 new fires were ignited on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE).
After a late-night crisis meeting with members of his Cabinet, Bolsonaro on Friday issued a decree permitting the deployment of armed forces to help extinguish fires and crack down on criminal activities in the region.
The decision came as demonstrations were held around the world over the fires in the Amazon forest, a region considered the “lungs of the planet” and seen as crucial to keeping climate change in check.
Several thousand protesters marched in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, amid growing European pressure as well as offers to help put out the fires from US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Macron on Friday accused Bolsonaro of lying to him on Brazil’s stance on climate change.
France is now to block a trade deal between the EU and the South American trade bloc Mercosur, which includes Brazil, a French presidential official said.
Ireland also threatened to block the deal, and Finland said it would propose to EU nations that they stop importing Brazilian beef.
Bolsonaro said that the fires should not be used as an excuse to punish Brazil.
“There are forest fires all over the world and this cannot be used as a pretext for possible international sanctions,” Bolsonaro said in brief remarks on television on Friday.
Macron on Thursday had tweeted that the fires amount to an international crisis and should be discussed as a top priority when the G7 nations meet this weekend in France.
Bolsonaro then blasted Macron as having a “colonialist mentality.”
Environmental specialists say the fires have accompanied a rapid rate of deforestation in the Amazon region, which last month quadrupled compared with the same month last year, according to INPE data, which Bolsonaro previously described as lies and prompted the sacking of the agency’s head.
Bolsonaro instead attributes the blazes to increased drought and accuses environmental groups and nongovernmental organizations of whipping up an “environmental psychosis” to harm Brazil’s economic interests.
Brazil’s powerful agriculture sector has expressed concerns over the president’s rhetoric, fearing a boycott of their products in key markets.
“Brazil has gone from being a global model of forest conservation to an international pariah,” said Robert Muggah, research director at the Igarape Institute, a think tank in Rio de Janeiro.
Bolsonaro had given “ammunition” to nations opposed to the EU-Mercosur deal, said Oliver Stuenkel, professor of international relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.
Neighboring Paraguay and Bolivia are also battling separate wildfires that have devastated large areas of their rainforests.
The Bolivian government on Friday took delivery of a “supertanker” aircraft to help extinguish fires that have destroyed about 7,770km2 of the eastern province of Santa Cruz for the past month.
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