Wildfires in the Amazon rainforest in
northern Brazil have ignited a firestorm on social media, with President
Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday suggesting green groups started the blazes.
Images of fires purportedly devouring sections of the world's largest
rainforest have gone viral on Twitter. #PrayforAmazonas is the top
trending hashtag in the world on Wednesday, with more than 249,000
tweets.
"No matter how successful we are, if our Earth dies, we all die," posted one Twitter user.
Another wrote: "Send your prayers to the Amazon and to the planet, we will need it."
Some of the images, however, showed fires in the Amazon dating as far
back as 1989 or even in other countries such as the United States or
India, AFP's fact-check service found.
Official figures show nearly 73,000 forest fires were recorded in Brazil
in the first eight months of the year -- the highest number for any
year since 2013. Most were in the Amazon.
That compares with 39,759 in the first eight months of 2018, according
to the embattled National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which has
been in Bolsonaro's cross-hairs since it released data showing a surge
in deforestation in recent months.
The head of INPE, the agency tasked with monitoring forest clearing, was sacked over the figures.
While it was not possible Wednesday to measure the size of the area
affected by fires, thick smoke in recent days has blanketed several
cities, including Sao Paulo, and caused a commercial flight to be
diverted.
Forest fires tend to intensify during the dry season, which usually ends
in late October or early November, as land is cleared to make way for
crops or grazing.
But the WWF has blamed this year's sharp increase on accelerating
deforestation in the Amazon, which is seen as crucial to keeping climate
change in check.
"Historically, in this region, the use of fire is directly linked to
deforestation as it is one of the techniques for tree clearing," WWF
said in a statement.
Bolsonaro hit back Wednesday, saying "criminal action by those NGOs, to
call attention against me, against the Brazilian government" following
funding cuts may be the reason for the forest fires.
"This is the war that we are facing," Bolsonaro told reporters.
"The fires were lit in strategic places. All the indications suggest
they went there to film and start fires. That's what I feel."
- Deforestation under scrutiny -
Bolsonaro's comments come as Brazil hosts a UN regional meeting on
climate change in the northeastern city of Salvador ahead of December's
summit in Chile.
The 25th UN Conference on Climate Change (COP25) was originally planned
for Brazil, but the country pulled out, citing impossible objectives.
Activists held a protest in the city where they denounced Bolsonaro's latest accusation as "absurd".
"The fires are the consequence of a policy of environmental devastation,
of support for agribusiness, of increasing pastures," Camila Veiga of
the Brazilian Association of NGOs told AFP.
Speaking on the sidelines of the week-long workshop, Environment
Minister Ricardo Salles defended the government's efforts to prevent
illegal deforestation.
"All the rules on illegal deforestation have been upheld, all strategies have continued to be enforced," Salles said.
"Unfortunately both the states and the federal government suffer because
of the economic crisis, budget cuts, which hinders... enforcement
operations."
The forest fires have fueled criticism of Bolsonaro's
anti-environmentrhetoric, which activists blame for emboldening loggers,
miners and farmers in the Amazon.
Salvador mayor Antonio Carlos Magalhaes told AFP that, if necessary,
"political forces" in Brazil would work "to block any attempt at radical
or extreme decisions" on the environment by Bolsonaro's government.
"Our country is concerned about the environment, our country is
concerned with the preservation of its natural heritage, our country
does not want to regress on this agenda, it wants to move forward,"
Magalhaes said.
Norway joined Germany on Thursday in halting Amazon protection
subsidies, accusing Brazil of turning its back on the fight against
deforestation.
Worsening relations between Brazil and Europe has worried the powerful
agriculture sector, which fears a backlash from its key markets.
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