Amazon fires: Brazil sends warplanes to dump water on devastating blaze after international outcry
Brazil’s warplanes are dumping water on fires across the Amazon, as Jair Bolsonaro’s government scrambles to contain the damage following an international outcry.
A video posted by Brazil’s Defence Ministry on Saturday evening showed a military plane pumping thousands of litres of water as it passed through clouds of smoke close to a forest canopy in Rondonia state.
Mr Bolsonaro, the country’s far-right president, has authorised military operations in seven states. The details of most initiatives remain unclear.
Environmental groups believe the Amazon fires have been deliberately started, as people try and clear the land, and Mr Bolsonaro has been accused of tacitly encouraging the destruction.
“What he has done through his words and deeds is given the go-ahead to farmers and illegal loggers, encouraging them into indigenous communities,” Richard George, head of forests at Greenpeace, previously told The Independent.
On Friday, after facing international pressure, Brazil’s president said he would send the army in to combat the flames.
The Defence Ministry said 44,000 troops were available in Brazil’s northern Amazon region but did not say how many would be used where and what they would do.
The response comes as leaders of countries in the Group of Seven (G7) nations currently meeting in France expressed grave concerns over the fires.
French president Emmanuel Macron on Sunday said the G7 was nearing a deal to provide “technical and financial help” to countries affected by the Amazon fires.
Nearly 80,000 fires have been registered across Brazil, the highest since at least 2013, according to space research agency INPE.
The blazes have been blamed for a plume of smoke which blocked out the sun over Sao Paulo last week.
http://players.brightcove.net/624246174001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5837728067001
Support free-thinking journalism and subscribe to Independent Minds
The devastating fires have prompted global concern over the Amazon, which provides 20 per cent of the world’s oxygen supply.
The largest rainforest in the world, it is vital for slowing down the pace of global warming.
Mr Bolsonaro initially claimed that his government lacked the resources to tackle the blaze.
Additional reporting by agencies
Read more
Where was this concern about the Amazon during EU trade talks?
Amazon tribe’s survival threatened by Bolsonaro’s construction plans
Leonardo DiCaprio launches emergency fund for Amazon rainforest
