The lungs of the earth; the world’s largest rain forest Amazon is burning. The native people march for the forest in Brazil. Brazil has seen a record number of fires in 2019, Brazilian space agency data suggests. The INPE, said this week that the number of fires in Brazil is 80% higher than last year. More than half are in the Amazon region, spelling disaster for the local environment and ecology. And 99% percent of the fires result from human actions “either on purpose or by accident,” Alberto Setzer, a senior scientist at INPE, said.
Forest fires are common in the Amazon during the dry season, which runs from July to October. They can be caused by naturally occurring events, such as by lightning strikes, but also by farmers and loggers clearing land for crops or grazing. Activists say the anti-environment rhetoric of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has encouraged such tree-clearing activities. In response, Mr Bolsonaro, a long-time climate change sceptic, accused non-governmental organisations of starting the fires themselves to damage his government’s image. He later said the government lacked the resources to fight the flames.
Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, in a televised address to the nation hit back at such criticism in his Friday night address, claiming the spreading of “disinformation” – inside or outside Brazil – would do nothing to solve the Amazon crisis.“Brazil is an example of sustainability,” he claimed, as the Amazon state of Acre became the latest to declare a state of emergency because of the wildfires. “It is our duty to protect the forest. We are aware of this and we are taking action to fight illegal deforestation and any other criminal activities that put our Amazon at risk,” Bolsonaro added. “We are a government that shows zero tolerance to crime and it will not be different when it comes to the environment.”Amid a growing chorus of international criticism, Donald Trump came to Bolsonaro’s defence on Friday. “I told him if the United States can help with the Amazon Rainforest fires, we stand ready to assist!” the US president tweeted “Our future Trade prospects are very exciting and our relationship is strong, perhaps stronger than ever before,” Trump said.
> Alma Siddiqua
