INTERVIEW
The green lung of the planet is on fire. In recent months, more than 72,800 fire starts have hit the Amazon rainforest in South America, to the point where fire smoke is now visible from space. "What is happening is a real drama worldwide," said Friday at the microphone of Sebastien Krebs, Europe 1 Clément Sénéchal, spokesman and campaigner for climate and forests at Greenpeace.
"Tropical forests are carbon sinks, they store carbon, so when they burn they release huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere and they are huge reservoirs of biodiversity," he says.
Faced with this ecological disaster, many accusing fingers now designate the policy of President Jair Bolsonaro. "The fire starts have been multiplied by three since the previous year, that is to say since he came to power," says Clement Sénéchal. "Since he was in power, he has done everything in his words and his actions to undermine the protection of the Amazon rainforest," he says.
A forest sold in the cut
"Jair Bolsonaro has dismantled the state agencies to protect the forest, he recently dismissed the director of the Brazilian scientific institute that measures deforestation, he weakened a number of NGOs whose mission is to document what happens in the Amazon, it has weakened the rights of indigenous people who are the first guardians of the Amazon since their survival depends on the health of the forest, "enumerates this spokesman.
"Jair Bolsonaro has a policy whose stated objective is to sell the Amazon rainforest to Brazilian agribusiness," said the Greenpeace spokesman. "In Brazil, fire is used to clear land and create pastures or to gain new land and grow soy, which is then exported to the EU and especially France," he says.