Brazilian President Bolsonaro authorises use of military to battle Amazon fires amid increasing international pressure
Under increasing international pressure to contain fires sweeping parts of the Amazon, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday authorised use of the military to battle the massive blazes.
Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias insisted that Brazil was "taking care" of the Amazon, and that international concerns over the fires should be cooled down. Charred trees and fallen branches were seen around Porto Velho, the capital of Rondonia state, which borders Bolivia. In some instances, the burned fields were adjacent to intact livestock ranches and other farms, suggesting the fires had been managed as part of a land-clearing policy.
Some 370 square kilometres have burned in northern Paraguay, near the borders with Brazil and Bolivia, said Joaquín Roa, a Paraguayan state emergency official.Close to 20% of the Amazon has already been deforested, according to Thomas Lovejoy, a George Mason University environmental scientist."I worry that the current deforestation will push past the tipping point leading to massive loss of forest and biodiversity," Lovejoy wrote in an email to The Associated Press.
Just over half of those fires have occurred in the Amazon region. Brazil contains about 60% of the Amazon rainforest.European leaders on Friday threatened to tear up a trade deal with South America, reflecting the growing international dismay and anger with Brazil as a record number of fires in the Amazon rainforest intensified the unfolding environmental crisis.
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