Global fury as Amazon burns
Wildfire crisis ravaging ‘lungs of the world’ triggers storm of protest
THE wildfire crisis gripping the Amazon triggered a storm of protest across the world yesterday.
Leading politicians, celebrities, environmentalists and even the Prime Minister’s girlfriend warned of the devastating impact of the fires ravaging the rainforest, which produces a fifth of the world’s oxygen.
Carrie Symonds shot off a message on social media at 3.21am yesterday warning the Brazilian wildfire is ‘an issue for every single one of us’.
Hours later Boris Johnson also sounded the alarm, expressing his ‘deep concern’ at what he called ‘an international crisis’.
The wildfire is believed to be the most intense blaze to grip the jungle in nearly a decade, with scientists warning the rainforest is drier and more flammable than normal due to global warming.
Yesterday’s protests came as it emerged there have been a record 72,843 fires in the jungle this year, up 83 per cent on 2018.
The Amazon, often referred to as the ‘lungs of the world’, is home to around three million species of plants and animals, and one million indigenous people.
Environmental groups blame the wildfires on the Brazilian government’s relaxed policies allowing swathes of the rainforest to be cleared for farming and mining.
But president Jair Bolsonaro shrugged off criticism over his failure to act, saying the fires were an ‘internal matter’.
However pressure was growing on the president as France and Ireland suggested they might not ratify a huge trade deal with South American nations unless Brazil does more to fight the fires.
The EU-Mercosur trade deal took 20 years to negotiate but Irish premier Leo Varadkar said: ‘There is no way Ireland will vote for the ... agreement if Brazil does not honour its environmental commitments.’
Miss Symonds, who is an anti-plastics campaigner with environmental group Oceana, tweeted at 3.21am yesterday: ‘Impossible not to feel real pain looking at images of the fire raging through the Amazon. Along with the world’s oceans, the forests are our lungs. We need them. This isn’t a Brazilian issue, this is an issue for every single one of us.’
Mr Johnson initially responded through a No10 spokesman, but later took to Twitter, writing: ‘The fires... are not only heartbreaking, they are an international crisis. We stand ready to provide whatever help we can to bring them under control and help protect one of earth’s greatest wonders.’
Downing Street added Mr Johnson will use the G7 meeting to renew focus ‘on protecting nature and tackling climate change’.
Meanwhile German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the ‘shocking and threatening’ fires should be on the agenda of the G7 summit, which begins in Biarritz today.
French President Emmanuel Macron emphasised his government’s concern at the crisis, tweeting: ‘Our house is burning. Literally.’ His comments were badly received by Mr Bolsonaro, dubbed the ‘Trump of the Tropics’.
The Brazilian leader accused Mr Macron of sensationalism and of seeking ‘personal political gains in an internal matter’.
He brushed aside fears about the spread of the fires earlier this week, saying it is the time of the year of ‘queimada’ – when farmers clear land with fire. I used to be called Captain Chainsaw. Now I am Nero, setting the Amazon aflame. But it is the season of the queimada,’ he said. As protests took place outside the Brazilian embassy in London, Labour wrote to Mr Johnson asking him to ‘immediately tell President Bolsonaro that his reckless destruction of the Amazon has to stop’. Jeremy Corbyn said: ‘Bolsanaro has allowed and indeed encouraged these fires to take place, to clear the forest in order that the land can then be used for actually very short-term agriculture production and after that it becomes desert.
‘The rainforest is an international resource, it’s a carbon sink that we all need and rely on.’
Mr Johnson’s show of support for raising the fires at the G7 summit comes after one of his allies was criticised for failing to speak out publicly during a trip to Brazil.
Labour’s Barry Gardiner accused trade minister Conor Burns of ‘cosying up’ to pro-deforestation ministers while on government business. Mr Burns had posted images on social media of him drinking champagne with Brazilian minister Marcos Troyjo, who has backed Mr Bolsonaro’s policy of deforestation.
A spokesman for the Department for International Trade said: ‘In meetings with the Brazilian government, minister Conor Burns raised the UK’s commitment to environmental protection and offered support to Brazil in the transition to renewable energy and a lower carbon economy.’
‘An issue for every single one of us’ ‘Such reckless destruction’