A fund to deal with the fires burning across Africa would not deal with the root of the problem, a UN disaster risk reduction expert told BBC’s Newsday.
French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted on Monday that he was considering an initiative in Africa similar to the fund the G7 countries announced would be put towards the fires in the Amazon.
But Denis McClean from the UN told Newsday that it looked like the fund would be just putting out fires this year.
He said that the fires were partly caused by “centuries-old” farming practices and did not appear to be any worse than previous years.
To avoid future fires would involve persuading people to change the way they farm, which he sees as unlikely without “proactive policies”.
Instead the focus should be on avoiding deaths from these fires and stopping them accidentally spreading into the rainforest, he says. One suggestion he makes is to set up volunteer fire brigades.
source: bbc.com