Tag: Amazon rainforest

A major US shoemaker will stop buying Brazilian leather while fires are ravaging the Amazon rainforest.

In one of the first major corporate responses to the blazes, VF Corp. (VFC) — which owns brands including Timberland, Vans and The North Face — said it will stop using leather from the South American country until it has “the confidence and assurance that the materials used in our products do not contribute to environmental harm in the country,” according to a statement.

Demand for beef and leather has caused huge swathes of land in the rainforest to be cleared for cattle ranches, potentially a major factor behind the fires.

Scientists have warned that the blazes, which have been raging at a record rate, could strike a devastating blow in the fight against climate change.

Read:Amazon fires: The tragic couple who died protecting their home

VF Corp. is a major player in apparel and footwear, also owning brands such as Eastpak and JanSport. VF’s activewear and outdoor brands helped the firm generate $13.8 billion in earnings for 2019, it reported in July.

Its move suggests the international outcry over the fires, and the response from populist Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, is spilling into the business world.

The Amazon, which spans eight countries and covers 40% of South America, is often referred to as “the planet’s lungs” because estimates show that nearly 20% of oxygen produced by the Earth’s land comes from rainforest. The Amazon also puts an enormous amount of water into the atmosphere and works to regulate global temperatures.

But Bolsonaro has sparred with global powers over the blazes, which number over 80,000 this year — in particular during a prickly G7 meeting in France this week.

Read:Amazon fires: Record number burning in Brazil rainforest space agency

The President’s special communications office told CNN on Tuesday morning that Brazil would turn down the $20 million aid offer that was pledged for the Amazon at the G7 summit in France the day before.

The President has since softened his stance on the financial aid, suggesting he would consider the G7’s aid if French President Emmanuel Macron apologized for accusing Bolsonaro of “lying” to him about climate commitments during trade negotiations.

The nation has also since accepted $12 million in aid from the UK government, which is a member of the G7.

Bolsonaro has repeatedly insisted the Amazon should be opened to development and has defunded the agencies responsible for cracking down on illegal activity, but he rejected accusations that he was partly responsible for the fires.

Source: cnn.com

Brazil’s president has accused France and other countries of interfering and having a “colonialist mindset” as they express fears for the burning Amazon rainforest.

The number of forest fires in Brazil since January – more than 74,000 – has increased by 83% compared with the same period last year, with smoke that is visible from 400 miles up in space.

World leaders are increasingly worried about the situation, as the Amazon – described as the world’s lungs – is a vital absorber of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the fires are an “international crisis”, writing on Twitter: “Our house is burning. Literally.

“The Amazon rainforest – the lungs which produce 20% of our planet’s oxygen – is on fire”.

But Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro hit back, saying: “I regret that Macron seeks to make personal political gains in an internal matter for Brazil and other Amazonian countries. The sensationalist tone he used does nothing to solve the problem.”

Read:Amazon fires: Record number burning in Brazil rainforest space agency

In a second tweet, he said: “The French president’s suggestion that Amazonian matters be discussed at the G7 without the involvement of countries of the region recalls the colonialist mindset that is unacceptable in the 21st century.”

Mr Bolsonaro also claimed news organisations had exploited the fires to undermine his government, saying: “Most of the media wants Brazil to end up like Venezuela.”

Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International’s secretary-general, said: “Instead of spreading outrageous lies or denying the scale of deforestation taking place, we urge the president to take immediate action to halt the progress of these fires.”

The Bishops Conference for Latin America described the fires as a “tragedy”, saying: “We urge the governments of the Amazon countries, especially Brazil and Bolivia, the United Nations and the international community to take serious measures to save the world’s lungs.”

But Filipe Martins, an adviser to Mr Bolsonaro, said the Amazon would be saved by Brazil and not “the empty, hysterical and misleading rhetoric of the mainstream media, transnational bureaucrats and NGOs”.

Read:Brazil jail riot leaves more than 50 dead

Fires in the rainforest at this time of year are not unusual, but environmentalists blame the increase on farmers deliberately setting fires to clear land for agriculture.

On Thursday, Mr Bolsonaro admitted this could be the case – a day after he had blamed environmental groups for setting the fires.

Just eight months into his presidency, the right-wing president has made it clear he wants to open the Amazon up to the demands of mining, agricultural and logging companies.

Federal prosecutors are investigating a Brazilian newspaper advert calling on farmers to be part of Fire Day and burn parts of the forest to show the president “their willingness to work”.

This month, Norway and Germany stopped funding anti-deforestation projects in Brazil, worried by changes to how the projects were being chosen under Mr Bolsonaro.

At the time the president said his country “does not need” the funding.

Source: Skynews.com

Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has seen a record number of fires this year, new space agency data suggests.

The National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) said its satellite data showed an 84% increase on the same period in 2018.

It comes weeks after President Jair Bolsonaro sacked the head of the agency amid rows over its deforestation data.

The largest rainforest in the world, the Amazon is a vital carbon store that slows down the pace of global warming.

It is also home to about three million species of plants and animals, and one million indigenous people.

Conservationists have blamed Mr Bolsonaro for the Amazon’s plight, saying he has encouraged loggers and farmers to clear the land, and scientists say the rainforest has suffered losses at an accelerated rate since he took office in January.

Read:Why 500 million bees have died in Brazil in three months

Meanwhile, US space agency Nasa said that overall fire activity in the Amazon basin was slightly below average this year.

The agency said that while activity had increased in Amazonas and Rondonia, it had decreased in the states of Mato Grosso and Pará.

It was earlier reported that a blackout on Monday in the city of Ṣo Paulo Рmore than 2,700km (1,700 miles) away Рhad been caused by smoke from the Amazon fires.

But some metereologists say the smoke came from major fires burning in Paraguay, which is much closer to the city and not in the Amazon region.

Why are there fires in the Amazon?

Wildfires often occur in the dry season in Brazil but they are also deliberately started in efforts to illegally deforest land for cattle ranching.

Inpe said it had detected more than 74,000 fires between January and August – the highest number since records began in 2013. It said it had observed more than 9,500 forest fires since Thursday, mostly in the Amazon region.

In comparison, there slightly more than 40,000 in the same period of 2018, it said. However, the worst recent year was 2016, with more than 68,000 fires in that period.

The satellite images showed Brazil’s most northern state, Roraima, covered in dark smoke, while neighbouring Amazonas declared an emergency over the fires.

Read:Brazil jail riot leaves more than 50 dead

Mr Bolsonaro brushed off the latest data, saying it was the “season of the queimada”, when farmers use fire to clear land. “I used to be called Captain Chainsaw. Now I am Nero, setting the Amazon aflame,” he was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

Inpe said it had detected more than 72,000 fires so far this year

Inpe, however, noted that the number of fires was not in line with those normally reported during the dry season.

“There is nothing abnormal about the climate this year or the rainfall in the Amazon region, which is just a little below average,” Inpe researcher Alberto Setzer told Reuters.

Mr Bolsonaro has been criticised over his environmental policies

“The dry season creates the favourable conditions for the use and spread of fire, but starting a fire is the work of humans, either deliberately or by accident.”

Ricardo Mello, head of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Amazon Programme, said the fires were “a consequence of the increase in deforestation seen in recent figures”.

Why is Bolsonaro being criticised?

The reports of a rise in forest fires come amid criticism over Mr Bolsonaro’s environmental policies. Scientists say the Amazon has suffered losses at an accelerated rate since the president took office in January, with policies favouring development over conservation.

Over the past decade, previous governments had managed to reduce deforestation with action by federal agencies and a system of fines. But Mr Bolsonaro and his ministers have criticised the penalties and overseen a fall in confiscations of timber and convictions for environmental crimes.

Last month, the far-right president accused Inpe’s director of lying about the scale of deforestation in the Amazon and trying to undermine the government. It came after Inpe published data showing an 88% increase in deforestation there in June compared to the same month a year ago.

The director of the agency later announced that he was being sacked amid the row.

Inpe has previously insisted that its data is 95% accurate. The agency’s reliability has also been defended by several scientific institutions, including the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.