Brazilian wildfires: Bolsonaro accuses NGOs of burning rainforest

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has claimed NGOs are behind the record number of fires raging in the Amazon rainforest, drawing condemnation from conservation groups.

Bolsonaro suggested that charities had set fires in response to his government cutting their funding: “On the question of burning in the Amazon, which in my opinion may have been initiated by NGOs because they lost money, what is the intention? To bring problems to Brazil.”

He could not give any evidence for the accusation, and said it was just his “feeling”.

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Bolsonaro made the bizarre claims amid “growing international criticism” over his failure to protect the Amazon, says The Guardian.

Brazil has already experienced more than 72,000 fire outbreaks this year, more than half of them in the Amazon.

Conservationists have blamed Bolsonaro for the fires, saying he has encouraged loggers and farmers to clear the land, leaving in vulnerable to wildfires.

“Those who destroy the Amazon and let deforestation continue unabated are encouraged by the Bolsonaro government’s actions and policies. Since taking office, the current government has been systematically dismantling Brazil’s environmental policy,” said Danicley Aguiar, of Greenpeace Brazil.

Under his administration, the government’s environment agency has issued fewer penalties, and ministers have repeatedly sided with loggers rather than indigenous groups living in the forest.

Data published in June shows that deforestation in the Amazon has surged since Bolsonaro took office in June, and that the rainforest is disappearing at a rate of more than three football pitches per minute, says The Guardian.

The president fired the head of Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) last month after its satellite data showed increasing deforestation, reports the newspaper.

Inpe reported that fires had increased 84% this year compared to the same period in 2018, reports the BBC. The body pointed out that, with no unusually dry weather, the fires are likely to be the result of deforestation rather than a change in conditions.

The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world and is home to one million indigenous people, and around three million species of animals and plants.

The rainforest plays a key part in slowing down global warming – trees absorb CO2 and release oxygen back into the air. Without tropical rainforests like the Amazon, says the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), “the greenhouse effect would likely be even more pronounced, and climate change may possibly get even worse in the future”.