Amazon wildfires worsen
Credit to Author: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE| Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2019 16:16:36 +0000
PORTO Velho, Brazil: Wildfires that eat up around 4,000 hectares of Amazon rainforests continue to worsen Saturday morning with indications that it can reach neighboring Peru.
The raging fires prompted President Jair Bolsonaro to authorize the deployment of Brazil’s armed forces to help combat fires raging in the 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, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer reported.
“It’s not normal and it’s like this because of the smoke from the fires,” said a hotel employee in the state capital Porto Velho, which was covered by a layer of smoke as fires burned near the city.
Firefighters complain of the very thick layer of trees that makes water drop useless in combating the raging fire.
The fires in the world’s largest rainforest have sparked street protests around the planet and ignited a war of words between Bolsonaro and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, who has described the wildfires as an “international crisis” and vowed to block a trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and South American countries.
The latest official figures show 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.
Around 700 new fires were ignited between Wednesday and Thursday, according to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), fueling air contamination in cities, including Sao Paulo where thick smog turned day into night on Monday.
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.
Bolsonaro’s decision came as demonstrations are 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 United States President Donald Trump and United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
In an escalating public row over the blazes, Macron on Friday accused Bolsonaro of lying to him on Brazil’s stance on climate change.
France will now block a trade deal between the European Union 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 countries that they stop importing Brazilian beef.
Bolsonaro insisted 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 Friday evening.
Macron had tweeted Thursday that the fires burning in the Amazon amount to an international crisis and should be discussed as a top priority when the G7 countries 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 in July quadrupled compared to the same month in 2018, according to INPE data, which Bolsonaro previously described as lies and prompted the sacking of the agency’s head.
AFP