Porto Velho (Brazil) (AFP)
Hundreds of new forest fires were raging Saturday across Brazil, according to the latest official data, as international pressure rises to push Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to put an end to the most devastating fires in the Amazon in recent years.
The fate of the largest rainforest on the planet, plagued by flames for days, is at the heart of the G7 summit held this weekend in Biarritz, in southwestern France.
The latest official data indicates that 78,383 fires have been recorded since January, a record since 2013. Experts say they are mainly due to deforestation, aggravated by the dry season that will continue in September.
More than half of these fires are located in the Amazon and some 1,663 new fires were lit between Thursday and Friday, according to the Brazilian National Institute of Space Research (INPE).
The boss of the INPE was sacked in early August after publishing data on deforestation deemed untrue by Jair Bolsonaro. These figures showed that deforestation in July was almost four times higher than it had been in the same month of 2018.
This new data is made public the day after Jair Bolsonaro announced the deployment of the army to fight against the flames and fight crime in the region.
The images of the smoke escaping from the "lung of the planet" caused a global emotion.
With cries of "Save the Amazon", demonstrations gathered several thousands of people in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro Friday, others took place in front of the embassies and consulates of Brazil in the world, with the call of numerous NGOs. Among them is the movement of young Swedish Greta Thunberg, Fridays for Future.
This environmental crisis is such that it threatens to torpedo the EU-Mercosur trade agreement (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) signed in late June after 20 years of negotiations.
"Of course we support the EU / Mercosur agreement (...) but it is difficult to imagine a harmonious ratification process by the European countries as long as the Brazilian government will allow the destruction of the green lung of the Earth", warned Saturday the President of the European Council Donald Tusk shortly before the opening of the G7 summit.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday accused Jair Bolsonaro of "lying" about his commitment to the environment and announced that in these conditions, France opposed the controversial EU-Mercosur treaty.
© 2019 AFP