Brazil has rejected $20 million aid offer from G7 countries to fight the Amazon wildfires. This comes amid criticism against President Jair Bolsonaro’s weak environmental policies. https://www.euronews.com/2019/08/27/thanks-but-no-thanks-brazil-rejects-amazon-wildfire-cash
Brazil has refused to accept $20 million aid offered from G7 countries to help fight the devastating wildfires in the Amazon region. Onyx Lorenzoni, chief of staff to President Jair Bolsonaro, said, “We appreciate (the offer), but maybe those resources are more relevant to reforest Europe.”
Brazilian environment Minister Ricardo Salles had earlier welcomed the aid, which could have helped in putting an end to the fires. Which have engulfed 950,000 hectares (2.3 million acres) in Brazil and led to the deployment of army. However, the Brazilian government changed its stance after a meeting was held between President Bolsonaro and other ministers.
The amount was pledged by leaders of the G7 countries in Biaritz, France. “Macron cannot even avoid a foreseeable fire in a church that is a world heritage site. What does he intend to teach our country?” Lorenzoni said, referring to the blaze that destroyed the iconic Notre-Dame Cathedral.
“Brazil is a democratic, free nation that never had colonialist and imperialist practices, as perhaps is the objective of the Frenchman Macron,” Lorenzoni averred. The relationship between Brazil and France has been strained since the French President avowed that the wildfire in the Amazon forest is an international crisis and the issue should be discussed at the G7 summit. President Bolsonaro, on the other hand, castigated France for having a “colonial mindset”.
About 60 per cent of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil. Other countries which share the rainforest are Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru and Suriname. Environmentalists have asserted that the increase in the number of fires in Brazil is a result of Bolsonaro’s weak policies towards the environment. http://diplomacybeyond.com
