The Amazon catches fire while Bolsonaro laughs …

The National Institute of Space Research (Inpe) of Brazil confirmed with its satellites what environmental organizations around the world had announced since the arrival of President Jair Bolsonaro at Plbadto Palace: the Amazon, "Lung of the world", is in danger.

Between January and August, 72,843 intermittent sources of forest fires were recorded, thanks to the "development policy" of the Brazilian president of agriculture and mining.. NGOs have launched a call throughout the week in Bolsonaro in the networks for the hectares of forests that are razed under the hashtag #PrayForAmazonia (Pray for the Amazon). Images of the burned forest roamed the nets.

"They called me Captain Chainsaw and now I'm Nero catching the Amazon. But if it is the fire season, "said the president, he criticized the information provided by Inpe, according to which fires have increased 83% this year over the same period in 2018. At least 68 reserves The Inpe director was fired by Bolsonaro under the pretext of promoting a "bad" image of Brazil abroad and providing "false" data.

L & # 39; s body radically denied that the dry season or natural phenomena can be blamed only because of the dramatic increase in fires, because "there is nothing unusual in this year's climate or in the rainfall levels in the Amazon region". Fires can be relatively frequent during the dry season, but also they are caused by farmers who illegally burn to release land and expand their businesses, protected by the lack of state control and Bolsonaro's policy in favor of landowners.

The Amazon rainforest, the "lung of the world"

From Thursday to today, Inpe has detected 9,507 new forest fires, mainly in the Amazon Basin, which is home to the world's largest rainforest and is considered essential to combat global warming. . The fire spreads across the states of Acre, Rondônia, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, reaching the triple frontier between Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay.

With the world's largest river and a source of natural wealth where countless species of animals and plants coexist, the Amazon is home to 34 million inhabitants, with more than 350 indigenous groups .

In many publications, users around the world have claimed the lack of dissemination of this environmental disaster. "While the UN experts on climate change warn about the importance of taking care of the soil, the earth and the forests of the planet, the Amazon has been burning for 16 days », highlighted on Twitter.

International institutions and enterprises, including NASA has shown on satellite images a high concentration of carbon monoxide (CO) in the atmosphere where it declared the state of environmental alert. by the increase of fires. Santiago Gbadó, a NASA researcher, said on his Twitter account that the area of ​​smoke in Latin America was about 3.2 million square kilometers.

Bolsonaro, who celebrated the departure of US President Donald Trump from the climate deal in Paris and refused to host the United Nations Climate Conference (COP 25), seems to ignore the problem.

Anti-environmental measures of Bolsonaro

Since taking office, Jair Bolsonaro has made it clear that protecting the environment would not be a priority for his leadership. One of Bolsonaro's first campaign promises was the merger of two opposing ministries, Agriculture and Environment. The decision was rejected by environmental organizations because they warned that the ministry responsible for promoting agriculture and livestock activities would also be responsible for granting environmental licenses for production in the preservation zones.

How could he not do it, the right lawyer Ricardo Salles in the wallet Environment, former head of the Sao Paulo area, accused of having modified the proposals of the management plan of an environmental protection zone to favor private companies. In addition, one of his first steps was stop the demarcation of native lands Decreeing that these decisions go through the Ministry of Agriculture.

On the other hand, Bolsonaro promised toBrir indigenous lands protected by the constitution to mining and forestry, with the excuse that natives will be able to live off these royalties. It also plans to complete the construction of Angra 3, a nuclear power plant located on the coast, between the regions of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The area intended for the project is the Itaorna Beach, known for landslides that historically indicate the instability of the soil.

This plant will be completed by a large hydroelectric dam at Belo Monte, on the Xingú River, which is part of the Amazon rainforest complex.

Bolsonaro against Norway and Germany

Norway has directly accused Brazil of causing deforestation in the Amazon by not properly investing the money deposited by that country and Germany into the Amazon Fund, established in 2008 for the prevention, surveillance and conservation of the region. The Norwegian government has stopped sending $ 30 million to Brazil. Angry, Bolsonaro shared a false news about his networks.

"Watch the slaughter of whales promoted by NorwayBolsonaro tweeted, who often complains of alleged impartial coverage by the press.The tweet includes a video and photos showing, against a backdrop of melancholic music, a mbadive whaling. The images, however, had been recorded in the Faroe Islands, a possession of Denmark in the North Atlantic.

The German government had already blocked on August 10 about 35 million euros of different programs., until deforestation figures are again encouraging, or at least stabilized. "You can use this money as you see fit, Brazil does not need it," Bolsonaro told them.

Faced with the threat of German Chancellor Angela Merkel not to send millions of dollars for the preservation of the region, Bolsonaro reacted with more irony and bypbading the two countries: "Keep the money and reforest Germany. And what was the other country? Sweden, Norway …? Oh yes, Norway, which will not give a similar amount in Brazil either. That they send it to Angela Merkel to reforest Germany, "laughed Bolsonaro.

Interstate Consortium for the Sustainable Development of the Legal Amazon,
composed of nine of the 27 Brazilian States, reported by a note aimed at "direct dialogue" with the countries that finance the Amazon fund to preserve it "The Amazonian bloc regrets that the positions of the Brazilian government have caused the suspension of the resources" of the Fund, indicates the text signed by the governors of the 9 Amazonian states.