Brazil bans burning for two months to curb Amazon fires

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro signed a decree on Wednesday to ban burning throughout the country for two months, government sources cited in local media said, as the authorities scramble to defuse the Amazon fires which have triggered a global outcry.

The blazes that have engulfed parts of the world’s largest rainforest — which is crucial for maintaining a stable global climate — have also sparked a diplomatic spat between Brazil and Europe that threatens to torpedo a major trade deal.

The decree prohibits any burning for the next 60 days, barring some exceptions in cases of approved agricultural and forestry practices, media reports said.

It comes as Bolsonaro’s renewed demand that French leader Emmanuel Macron withdraw “insults” against him cast doubt on whether Brazil would accept the G7’s offer of $20 million to help combat the fires.

Bolsonaro initially rejected the G7’s offer, saying on Tuesday that he would be willing to accept it only if Macron withdrew his “insults,” before appearing to change his mind to say Brazil would accept foreign aid on the condition that it controlled the money.

But later on Wednesday, the South American leader fired a fresh salvo.

“Only after he withdraws what he said... we can talk again,” Bolsonaro told reporters on Wednesday, referring to Macron.

He also accused France and Germany of “buying” the Latin American country’s sovereignty with Amazon fire aid.

“It seems that $20 million is our price. Brazil doesn’t have a price of 20 million or 20 trillion — it’s the same thing for us,” he said.

Macron has accused Bolsonaro of lying to him about his commitments on climate change and vowed to block the EU-Mercosur trade deal involving Brazil that took decades to negotiate.

An aide to President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the US was ready to assist with the Amazon crisis, but only if it involved the Brazilian government.

“We didn’t agree to a G7 initiative that failed to include consultations w/ @jairbolsonaro. The most constructive way to assist w/ Brazil’s ongoing efforts is in coordination w/ the Brazilian Gov,” National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis tweeted late on Wednesday.

Bolsonaro’s latest remarks make him and his government appear “increasingly unhinged,” said Robert Muggah, from a Rio de Janeiro think tank, the Igarape Institute.

“There don’t appear to be any adults left in the room with the ability or inclination to restrain his worst impulses,” Muggah said.

On Monday, Macron rebuked the “extraordinarily rude” Bolsonaro after the Brazilian leader personally expressed approval for a supporter’s Facebook post implying that Brigitte Macron was not as attractive as his own wife, Michelle Bolsonaro.

The Brazilian leader has since removed the comment from social media to avoid misinterpretation, his spokesman Otavio Rego Barros told reporters on Wednesday.

Vice President Hamilton Mourao — widely considered to be a moderate voice in Bolsonaro’s government — also weighed in publicly for the first time.

In an opinion piece published in the conservative Estado de S. Paulo newspaper, Mourao criticised an “international campaign” against Brazil and said the country “does not lie and nor does its president, its government and its institutions.”

Bolsonaro said Brazil would accept bilateral aid to fight the fires, saying yes to Chile’s offer of four aircraft. “We all love the Amazon, but the nine Amazon countries... have sovereignty” over it, Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera said.

The outcry over the fires has alarmed industries in Latin America’s largest economy. They fear potential boycotts of their products.

Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations mooted a meeting of key countries to drum up support to tackle the devastating Amazon forest fires, which he called a “very serious situation.”

Speaking on the sidelines of an African development conference in Yokohama, Antonio Guterres urged the international community to do more to quell the more than 83,000 fires set this year, more than half of which are raging in the massive Amazon basin.

Agencies