The pressure on Brazil is growing, not least on the country's president Jair Bolsonaro. Thousands of fires are raging in the Amazon rainforests. 99 percent of them are caused by humans, intentionally or unintentionally, according to the country's space research institute Inpe, reports CNN.
While locals describe how animals try to escape the forest and people are horrified that the forest that produces 20 percent of our planet's oxygen is burning up, the president has, without evidence, suspected environmental activists to be behind the fires. Reluctantly, he has since acknowledged that it may be farmers who started them to then be able to illegally scavenge the land.
Protests against environmental policy
The actions of recent days and Brazil's environmental policy have had consequences.
Brazil's Minister for the Environment was summoned during the UN Climate Conference in Salvador, Brazil earlier this week. Germany and Norway have stopped their financial support to the rainforests and believe that Bolsonaro does nothing to stop the deforestation.
Actor and environmental activist Leonardo di Caprio, who calls on his 34 million followers on Instagram to vote for leaders who are ready to fight the climate, is just one of hundreds of thousands who engage in the rainforest on social media.
And the protests are spreading all over the world. In London, activists from the climate organization Extinction Rebellions stuck to the Brazilian embassy and in Stockholm a smaller demonstration is scheduled for Friday.
Ireland wants to stop agreements
Now Ireland is also raising a warning finger. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar says Dublin will vote against the EU-Mercosur trade agreement (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) if Brazil does not take measures to save the rainforest.
"Not a chance that Ireland will vote for the EU-Mercosur agreement if Brazil does not respect its commitment to the environment," Varadkar told the Irish Independent.
Agriculture is affected
The world's rage, dissatisfaction and warnings that Brazil's environmental policy will have further consequences have raised concerns in the country.
Waldez Goés, governor of the northern state of Amapá, tells The New York Times that he fears that a continued devastation of the Amazon will lead to a boycott of Brazilian goods.
- We live in a country that produces food. The price can be very high for both producers and the nation, he tells the newspaper.
MEP Jerônimo Goergen also expresses his concern about Brazil's reputation abroad after the country's environmental policy has been under scrutiny.
- This creates a horrible picture of Brazil. The agricultural sector will suffer the most, based on how the debate is designed, he tells The New York Times.