Brasilia - Brazil's
far-right President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday accused
non-governmental organisations of burning down the Amazon
rainforest to hurt his government, as a growing global outcry
against the wildfires raged through social media.
Presented without evidence and disputed by environmental and
climate experts, Bolsonaro's comments enraged critics and fanned
a growing social media campaign over the dangers to the Amazon,
one of the world's key bulwarks against climate change.
#PrayforAmazonas was the world's top trending topic on
Twitter on Wednesday, and millions of people took to Instagram
and Facebook to share concerns over the future of the Amazon.
With global awareness growing, Bolsonaro's comments risk
creating a spiraling crisis for his government, imperiling an
EU-Mercosur trade pact and upsetting key agribusiness clients.
"Everything indicates" that NGOs were going to the Amazon to
"set fire" to the forest, Bolsonaro said in a Facebook Live
broadcast on Wednesday morning. When asked if he had evidence to
back up his claims, he said he had "no written plan," adding
"that's not how it's done."
The former army captain turned politician said the slashing
of NGO funding by his government could be a motive.
"Crime exists," he said. "These people are missing the
money."
Bolsonaro said his administration was working to control the
Amazon fires, which have reached a record number this year.
Brazil's space research center, INPE, has detected 72,843 fires
so far in 2019, an 83% increase on the same period in 2018.
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro Picture: Eraldo Peres/AP
Environmental and climate experts labeled his claims that
NGOs were responsible a "smoke screen" to hide his government's
dismantling of protections for the world's largest tropical
rainforest. They said farmers clearing land were responsible for
the uptick in fires.
"This is a sick statement, a pitiful statement," said Marcio
Astrini, Greenpeace Brazil's public policy coordinator.
"Increased deforestation and burning are the result of his
anti-environmental policy."
Bolsonaro, a longtime skeptic of environmental concerns,
wants to open the Amazon to more agriculture and mining, and has
told other countries worried about rising deforestation under
his watch to mind their own business.
Congressman Nilto Tatto, leader of the lower house
environment caucus, said Bolsonaro's "stunning" attack on NGOs
was an attempt to obscure his administration's destruction of 30
years of Brazilian environmental protections.
Climate scientist Carlos Nobre said farmers seeking to clear
land for cattle pastures wait for the dry season when forests
become combustible and then set them alight. He attributed this
year's spike to illegal deforestation since it has not been
unusually dry.
"NGOs working in the Amazon do not use fire in farming. On
the contrary, they encourage rural communities to avoid fire,"
said Nobre, senior researcher at Sao Paulo University's
Institute for Advanced Studies.
Former presidential candidate and environment minister
Marina Silva took to Twitter to criticize Bolsonaro.
"The Amazon is on fire," she wrote. "The president says NGOs
may be behind this. The lack of commitment to the truth is a
chronic pathology. This irresponsible attitude only aggravates
an environmental disaster in Brazil."
Speaking later on Wednesday, Bolsonaro also took aim at the
Paris climate accord, saying that if it were so good, the United
States would have stayed in it. But he added that for the time
being, Brazil would remain in the pact.
French President Emmanuel Macron warned in June he would not
sign the EU-Mercosur trade treaty if Bolsonaro pulled Brazil out
of the Paris accord.
Earlier this month, Norway and Germany suspended funding for
projects to curb deforestation in Brazil after becoming alarmed
by changes to the way projects were selected under Bolsonaro.
Reuters