Amazon rainforest is receiving international attention due to its unprecedented number of fires in the past year. More than 80,000 fires have sparked in 2019 in the rainforest which indicates an 83 percent increase compared to 2018, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research. This has brought domestic and international criticisms toward Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro who is blamed for his disputed environmental policies and failures to protect the Amazon rainforest by letting it burn for two weeks without any action.
The environmentalists attribute the source of the ravaging Amazon fires to the policies enacted by the Bolsonaro’s administration, which encourages farmers and cattle ranchers to clear the lands of the Amazon. This led to a dramatic 80 percent increase in deforestation. However, the Brazilian president accused the NGOs for initiating the fires. On September 24, President Bolsonaro defended his environmental policies at the UN General Assembly and stressed that social media is misinforming the public about the fire. It is, however, an undeniable fact that there has been a 25 percent increase in the number of Amazon blazes. The severity of the Amazon fires has prompted the Group of 7 to offer 22 million dollars in funds towards aiding the rainforest fires. Despite this urgent crisis, Mr. Bolsonaro rejected the financial support. From his perspective, the rejection was an appropriate action regarding Brazil’s sovereignty over the Amazon rainforest, which consists of rich resources. He then accused the French president by illustrating him as a person who is “hiding his intentions behind the idea of an ‘alliance’ of G7 countries.” This has led to a backlash from a number of critics due to his inactive participation toward the fires. President Bolsonaro announced that he would not take the aid unless he received an apology from the president of France. The Macron administration responded to Bolsonaro by saying that “We respect your sovereignty. It’s your country.”
Instead of receiving the G7 funds, the Brazilian government is attempting to tackle the fires in response to the external pressures by deploying military troops to fight the fire and accepting funds from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several South Americans countries.
Written by Sooyoun Kim | Staff Writer
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