Wildfires continue to rage in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest.
Our live coverage has ended. Here’s what you need to know about the fires in Brazil:
While the wildfires raging in the Amazon rainforest may constitute an “international crisis,” they are hardly an accident.
The vast majority of the fires have been set by loggers and ranchers to clear land for cattle. The practice is on the rise, encouraged by Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s populist pro-business president, who is backed by the country’s so-called “beef caucus.”
While this may be business as usual for Brazil’s beef farmers, the rest of the world is looking on in horror.
So, for those wondering how they could help save the rainforest, known as “the planet’s lungs” for producing about 20% of the world’s oxygen, the answer may be simple. Eat less meat.
It’s an idea that Finland has already floated. On Friday, the Nordic country’s finance minister called for the European Union to “urgently review the possibility of banning Brazilian beef imports” over the Amazon fires.
How much meat Brazil exports: Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of beef, providing close to 20% of the total global exports, according the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) — a figure that could rise in the coming years.
Last year the country shipped 1.64 million tonnes of beef — the highest volume in history — generating $6.57 billion in revenue, according to the Brazilian Beef Exporters Association (Abiec), an association of more than 30 Brazilian meat-packing companies.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a statement Friday the Amazon rainforest “is being burnt because of the irresponsible behaviour of a small number of international politicians and corporate executives.”
She called for an “urgent international meeting” to address the fires and “to take all the measures, actions and sanctions necessary to stop this humanitarian disaster.”
Read Hidalgo’s full statement:
Fires are raging in the Amazon right now.
And the peak of the dry season is still to come in September, CNN meteorologist Haley Brink said.
Here’s a look at the fires in the Amazon:
Brazil’s space research center (INPE) said this week that the number of fires in Brazil are 80% higher than last year. More than half are in the Amazon region, spelling disaster for the local environment and ecology.
And 99% percent of the fires result from human actions “either on purpose or by accident,” Alberto Setzer, a senior scientist at INPE, said. The burning can range from a small-scale agricultural practice, to new deforestation for a mechanized and modern agribusiness project, Setzer told CNN by email.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro is considering sending army troops to help combat the fires raging in the Amazon rainforest, he told reporters this morning.
Executive action to deploy troops is only available when traditional public safety measures have been depleted, according to guidelines from the Ministry of Defense.
Two states in the Amazon have already declared state of emergency: Acre and Amazonas.
New satellite images of the Amazon from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show how much smoke is in the air above the rainforest.
An image from July 28, 2019 shows just clouds in the skies above the rainforest, while an image from yesterday now shows smoke in the air.
July 28:
Aug. 22
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the fires in the Amazon rainforest are “not only heartbreaking, they are an international crisis.”
Read his tweet:
German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said Brazil must want assistance in dealing with what she called “shocking” wildfires raging in the Amazon rainforest.
She echoed an earlier statement by the French President Emmanuel Macron, who said he would oppose a trade deal between Mercosur and the European Union if Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro did not change his environmental policies.
“There is no doubt in my mind that a Mercosur trade agreement cannot be justified without guarantees that the rainforest will be protected,” Schulze said.
The German environment minister went on to say:
The Amazon is burning at a record rate — with images from space showing the smoke covering much of Brazil.
It’s not the only major forest under assault. Nearly half of the world’s forests that stood when humans started farming are now gone, and each year an additional 32 million acres are destroyed, according to the nonprofit Rainforest Alliance. The biggest reason is expansion of agriculture into forested areas.
In Brazil, its cattle ranching, soy production and logging, according to Nigel Sizer, tropical forest ecologist and chief program officer with the Rainforest Alliance. Environmental groups say these activities can be slowed or done in a much more sustainable way.
Here’s what you can do to help slow forest loss:
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration just released new images showing the raging fires and their burn scars from above:
You are going to hear and read this term a lot today. Let us break it down for you.
What is Mercosur: It is an economic and political bloc comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, plus several associate members. Venezuela’s membership in the group was suspended in 2017, in a Mercosur resolution that cited a “rupture of democratic order” in the country.
The recent trade deal: In June, after more than 20 years of negotiations, Mercosur and the European Union reached a comprehensive trade agreement in Brussels. “The new trade framework – part of a wider Association Agreement between the two regions – will consolidate a strategic political and economic partnership and create significant opportunities for sustainable growth on both sides,” a European Union news release said. The deal aims to remove the majority of tariffs on EU exports to Mercosur, according to the EU statement.
The impact of the deal: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the deal impacts a combined population of more than 780 million people, and would save more than $4.5 billion worth of duties per year. Juncker declared it the largest trade agreement the European Union has ever concluded.
What happens now: As wildfires rage in Brazil, French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday he is opposing a trade deal between the European Union and Mercosur. At the same time, Macron is accusing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro of “lying” to him on his climate commitments, the Elysée Palace confirmed to CNN. Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also said Friday he is ready to block a trade deal between the European Union and Mercosur unless Brazil takes action on the Amazon forest.
The German government backs France’s Emmanuel Macron’s calls to discuss the Amazon forest fires at the G7, calling them “frightening and threatening.”
The extent of the fires has global impacts, Steffen Seibert, a government spokesperson said. The Amazon “is a highly important element in our global system and essential for ecosystem. So it makes sense it call it the green lungs of the world,” he said.
The French President has the chancellor “completely on his side” in calling for the fires in the Amazon region to be on the agenda of the G7, according to Seibert.
Earlier today, Brazilian President Bolsonaro criticized Macron’s call to raise the issue at the G7, saying that “the suggestion of the French president that Amazonian issues be discussed in the G7 without countries in the region participating is reminiscent of a colonial mindset inappropriate in the 21st century.”
Finland’s Finance Minister Mika Lintila is calling for the European Union to “urgently review the possibility of banning Brazilian beef imports.”
Finland’s Prime Minister Antti Rinne also called the situation in the Amazon, “extremely serious,” and suggested the EU will take action soon.
“I contacted the European Commission yesterday evening,” Rinne said in a statement released today. “And I expect that the EU will take action today. The Finnish Government is following the events very closely.”
Finland currently holds the rotating Presidency of the European Council.
French President Emmanuel Macron opposes a trade deal between the European Union and Mercosur — the South American trade block — after accusing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro of “lying” to him on his climate commitments, the Elysée Palace confirmed to CNN.
Here’s what Elysée said in a statement:
The Elysée was referring to commitments on climate and biodiversity that President Bolsonaro made during the G20 Osaka Summit held in June, which President Macron made a precondition to any trade deal with the EU.
More context: The Amazon is currently facing record-breaking wildfires. Bolsonaro has suggested ranchers clearing land and NGOs hostile to his presidency may be the cause of these fires. However, environmental organizations have previously said the wildfires began with increased land-clearing and logging that was encouraged by the country’s pro-business president.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said international cooperation to protect rainforests is needed, given the increase in fires in the Amazon rainforest, a Downing Street spokesperson told CNN today.
The spokesperson said the prime minister “is deeply concerned by the increase in fires in the Amazon rainforest and the impact of the tragic loss of these previous habitats.”
Downing Street believes that “we need international action to protect the world’s rainforests” and that Boris Johnson “will use G7 to call for a renewed focus on protecting nature and tackling climate change together.”
Earlier on Friday, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said that he would be ready to block an EU/Mercosur trade deal unless Brazil acted on the Amazon.
Ireland is ready to block a trade deal between the European Union and Mercosur unless Brazil takes action on the Amazon forest, Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said today.
In a statement, Varadkar says the Mercosur deal is two years away and Ireland will monitor Brazil’s environmental actions to determine whether to block the deal.
He added Irish and European farmers could not be told to use fewer pesticides and respect biodiversity when trade deals were being made with countries not subjected to “decent environmental, labour and product standards.”
More context: Wildfires are raging at a record rate in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. Environmental organizations and researchers say the wildfires were set by cattle ranchers and loggers who want to clear and utilize the land, emboldened by the country’s president.
Colombian pop star Shakira tweeted that it’s time to “speak up and stop the deforestation of the Amazon.”
“The home of our people and our fauna should be protected. The Amazon is ours, is everyone’s!” she added.
Here’s the tweet:
In a Facebook live video last night, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro suggested multiple parties could be behind the forest fires raging in the Amazon, including ranchers, a political bloc often aligned with the far-right president.
Bolsonaro went on to say there are “suspicions” that ranchers are behind the forest fires and appealed to the Brazilian people to “help us” combat the fires.
More context: Environmental organizations and others have previously said the wildfires began with increased land-clearing and logging that was encouraged by the country’s pro-business president. Amnesty International on Thursday said the responsibility for the fires that have been raging for weeks in the Amazon “lies squarely with President Bolsonaro and his government,” adding that his government’s “disastrous policy of opening up the rainforest for destruction [is] what has paved the way for this current crisis.”
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Thursday his country lacks the resources to combat the raging wildfires in the Amazon.
He also said the Ministry of Justice lacked enough staff to investigate how the fires began.
On Wednesday, Bolsonaro suggested non-governmental organizations may have started the fires. He continued this line of reasoning on Thursday, saying the fires are related to environmentalists’ opposition to his government.
“The NGOs lost money, the money that came from Norway and Germany to here. They’re unemployed. What do they need to do? Try to overthrow me,” he told reporters in Brasilia.
More context: The Amazon rainforest is about two-thirds the size of continental Europe. The Amazon covers 6.7 million square kilometers (2.5 million square miles), according to the World Wildlife Fund, while continental Europe covers 9.9 million square kilometers (3.8 million square miles), according to the Central Intelligence Agency.
