Pressure forces Bolsonaro to pause Amazon burning
Brazilians have been barred from starting fires to clear land under growing international anger about the burning of the Amazon.
President Jair Bolsonaro issued the two-month ban by decree yesterday, restricting ranchers who are contributing to fires burning at a record rate in the world’s largest rainforest.
Hours later the United Nations suggested that the Amazon’s stewardship be discussed at the general assembly in New York next month. Describing it as a ‘‘fundamental resource for all of us’’, Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general, appealed for global resources to be mobilised.
‘‘Until now we have not done enough. We need to do all together more than we have done in the past,’’ he said.
Some of the fires are believed to have been started illegally by ranchers keen to clear land for cattle and crop cultivation, which is highly profitable but risks environmental catastrophe.
Prosecutors have been investigating allegations that some fires were triggered by clearing of land, which the decree now bans. A group of farmers wrote a letter at the start of the month to warn that they would burn rainforest ‘‘to show the president we want to work’’.
Critics argue that land speculators have been emboldened since the election in October of Bolsonaro, a Right-wing nationalist who wants to open the Amazon to commercial activity. He has said that indigenous tribes would prefer ‘‘blonde girlfriends and the internet’’ to their traditional way of life.
Satellite data shows that more than 2600 fires began in the Brazilian Amazon in the 48 hours to yesterday lunchtime. That takes the total this year above 85,000, a 75 per cent increase on the number recorded by the National Institute for Space Research for the same period last year and the highest since 2010. Most fires are in the fertile Amazon basin.
The latest surge has come despite military aircraft pouring water over the rainforest since Sunday and troop deployment to seven states to combat illegal deforestation.
Pressure to contain the fires is building as nine state governors from the worst-hit regions insisted on Wednesday that the government accept international aid to help combat the flames.
On Tuesday western leaders at the G7 summit in France pledged more than US$20 million (NZ$31.7m) to help Brazil to control the fires. Bolsonaro turned it down, accusing Germany and France of trying to buy Brazil’s sovereignty.
‘‘It seems that 20 million is our price. Brazil doesn’t have a price of 20 million or 20 trillion. It’s the same thing for us,’’ Bolsonaro said.
Donations promised by the G7 countries – France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and the United States – total $40m, including $12m from Britain.
Setting fires during the dry season between July and September is routine but subject to the country’s forest code, which is supposed to control them.
In Rondonia, a huge Amazon territory that has been covered in thick plumes of smoke, starting fires has been under stricter control since July.
Ricardo Salles, the environment minister, said that an outright ban was now in place nationwide until the start of the rainy season in November.
It has three exceptions: when fires are related to plant health; as a preventive measure to fight wildfires authorised by the environmental authorities; as part of traditional farming practices by indigenous people.
Lax enforcement by the Bolsonaro administration is widely believed to have contributed to an increase in the number of fires.
‘‘Inspections need to be more rigid, with fines issued. This latest government ban is just the start, and I ask myself ‘who is going to monitor it?’,’’ Paulo Junho, a firefighter in Porto Velho, Rondonia, said.
On Wednesday night, Bolsonaro celebrated on Twitter that Brazil would resume exporting beef to Indonesia. Cattle ranching is the cause of much deforestation.
Having initially blamed environmental charities for starting the fires and argued with President Emmanuel Macron of France, who claimed he had lied about Brazil’s climate promises, Bolsonaro has ordered local governments to take emergency action.
However, he said that he would not speak to France until Macron withdrew his accusations.
Fires are raging in much of the Amazon region, which spans parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru and Surinam.
Bolsonaro said that South American countries would host an emergency summit in Colombia next Friday to co-ordinate a ‘‘unified’’ strategy to protect the rainforest.
In Bolivia, where about 12,000 square kilometres of forest have been destroyed, President Evo Morales and his main rival in October’s election have suspended campaigning this week to deal with the fires.
Morales said on Monday that he was open to accepting international aid. – The Times