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Pope calls for global commitment to put out Amazon fires

Vatican City/Brasilia, Brazil
Reuters

Pope Francis on Sunday called for a global commitment to put out the fires in the Amazon, saying the area was essential for the health of the planet.

“We are all worried about the vast fires that have developed in the Amazon. Let us pray so that with the commitment of all, they can be put out soon. That lung of forests is vital for our planet,” he told thousands of people in St Peter’s Square for his weekly address.

Brazil wildfires

A tract of Amazon jungle is seen after a fire in Boca do Acre, Amazonas state, Brazil, on 24th August. PICTURE: Reuters/Bruno Kelly

Six states in Brazil’s Amazon have requested military help to combat record fires that are tearing through the rainforest, provoking an international outcry because of the Amazon’s central role in combating global warming.

The states of Para, Rondonia, Roraima, Tocantins, Acre and Mato Grosso – out of the region’s nine – have requested military assistance, according to a spokeswoman for the President’s office, a day after President Jair Bolsonaro authorised the military to step in.

SOUTH AMERICAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS JOIN CALLS FOR GREATER ACTION TO PROTECT THE AMAZON

South American Catholic bishops have issued a call for governments in the Amazon region and the international community “to take serious measures to save the lung of the world” as wildfires burn, reports Agenzia Fides.

In a statement sent to the Catholic news agency, the coordinating body of the Catholic Latin American bishops conferences, known as CELAM, said that what happens in the Amazon “is not a local matter, but has global reach”.

“If the Amazon suffers, the world suffers,” the statement said. “Aware of the terrible fires that devastate large parts of the flora and fauna in Alaska, Greenland, Siberia, the Canary Islands and in particular in the Amazon, the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean want to raise our concern over the gravity of this tragedy that not only has a local or a regional impact, but of planetary proportions”.

“The Amazon…is a region rich in biodiversity, it is multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious, a mirror of humanity which, to defend life, calls for structural and personal changes from all human beings, states, and the Church. This situation goes beyond the sphere of the Church in the Amazon because it addresses the universal Church and the future of the whole planet”.

Brazil is the world’s largest Catholic country.

Francis, who wrote a major document known as an encyclical in 2015 on protection of the environment from global warming, has often defended the rights of the native peoples of the Amazon region to keep their lands and protect their cultures. He has also called for a progressive reduction in the use of fossil fuels. 

The fires have coincided with this weekend’s G7 summit, where the host, French President Emmanuel Macron, has said the Amazon needs better management to end the “ecocide” that is going on in the rainforest and wants world leaders to discuss the emergency.

The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest and its protection is seen as vital to the fight against climate change because of the vast amounts of carbon dioxide it absorbs.

Brazil has 44,000 troops stationed in its northern Amazon region that are available to combat forest fires and could send more from elsewhere in the country, said Raul Botelho, the joint chief of staff for the country’s military.

In a briefing with reporters, Botelho and other officials did not say how many troops would be involved and gave few operational details of how they would be used and where.

Defence Minister Fernando Azevedo said forces would be concentrated in certain areas depending on the individual mission. 

For example, in Porto Velho in Rondonia state, two planes would be made available that have capacity to carry 12,000 litres of water mixed with fire retardant, as well as an infantry brigade, river patrol forces and the local office of the Defence Ministry’s Amazon monitoring unit, he said.

On Saturday, fewer than 50 personnel will be sent from Brasilia to Porto Velho in Rondonia state to support operations there, including 30 firefighters and 18 communications specialists, Botelho said.

Alfredo Sirkis, executive director of thinktank Brazil Climate Center and a founder of Brazil’s Green Party, said while he supported military involvement, he doubted that anyone would be able to put out the existing fires.

“Once you have a huge forest fire like that, especially when you don’t have all the kind of forest fire-fighting equipment that you have in places like the US or Portugal, it’s difficult to extinguish,” he said. “They’ll only be extinguished by themselves depending on the weather conditions.”

The military can help to prevent additional forest fires by enforcing environmental laws and stopping people from setting the fires, Sirkis said. 

Environmentalists have said that farmers clearing land for pasture were responsible for the uptick in fires. 

Similarly, Sirkis blamed the fires on speculators seeking to clear the land they hope to later sell for farming, saying they have been emboldened by Bolsonaro’s strong rhetoric in favour of development of the Amazon region.

Bolsonaro enraged critics on Wednesday when he accused non-governmental organisations of burning down the Amazon rainforest to hurt his government. But on Thursday he admitted for the first time that farmers might be involved in lighting fires in the region.

 

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