Post by Andrei Tchentchik on Mar 1, 2020 14:19:18 GMT 2
(.#A.041).- Emergency Meeting for the Amazon, August 28, 2019.
Emergency Meeting for the Amazon, August 28, 2019.
Fire - South America
The Brazilian presidency turns around and finally says it is "open" to foreign financial aid.
LIMA (AFP) Peru and Colombia yesterday proposed to the countries of the Amazon region an emergency meeting on 6 September 2019 to coordinate measures to defend the world's largest rainforest, affected by fires.
Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra and his Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque "have agreed to convene a meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the Amazon region in Leticia (Colombia) on September 6, 2019, to unite their efforts To protect the Amazon rainforest, according to a statement issued after a meeting between the two heads of state.
The city of Leticia, in the extreme south of Colombia, is in the middle of the Amazonian forest, on the border with Brazil and Peru.
The purpose of the meeting is "to establish a Pact that will enable sustainable conservation, development and exploitation (of the Amazon) for the benefit of the communities living there, with full respect for national sovereignty," he said. added.
CHANGING YOUR TONE
In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro finally said he was "open" yesterday to financial aid "from foreign organizations and even countries" to fight against fires in the Amazon provided they control the funds, after rejecting the day before a G7 offer.
"The essential point is that this money, once entered Brazil, does not go against the Brazilian sovereignty and that the management of the funds is under our responsibility," said a spokesman for the presidency, the day after a $ 20 million offer from the G7 countries.
Yesterday morning, Mr Bolsonaro had conditioned the arrival of G7 aid to the "withdrawal of insults" by his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
"Mr. Macron must remove the insults he has made against me," he said, about his counterpart's accusations that he had "lied" about his environmental commitments.
"At first he called me a liar and then, according to my information, he said that our sovereignty over the Amazon was an open question," said Jair Bolsonaro before meeting with the governors of the 9 states. Amazon.
MORALES UNDER PRESSURE
Fires in Bolivia, Morales under criticism, August 27, 2019.
c/f : actu.orange.fr/societe/environnement/incendies-en-bolivie-morales-egalement-sous-le-feu-des-critiques-CNT000001i8zhp/photos/des-feux-de-foret-dans-le-parc-national-otuquis-le-26-aout-2019-en-bolivie-13741ac51308c9870ef3ac81c1bdc95f.html
Like Bolivia's President, Bolivian President Evo Morales is the target of criticism from environmentalists, who make his agricultural policy responsible for the fires that have already devastated nearly a million hectares in the eastern part of the country. country.
Put under pressure by environmental organizations, the leader finally accepted on Sunday offers of assistance from several countries in the region and Spain.
Morales has also announced the temporary suspension of his election campaign, while he seeks a disputed fourth term in late October. According to official figures, 950,000 hectares have been ravaged by the flames in the east of the country since May, with a very strong upsurge since mid-August.
At the heart of the critics of environmental organizations, the "touso", practice of slash and burn culture widespread and openly encouraged, according to them, by the government that supports the extension of intensive agricultural activities.
"We are talking about a state policy agreed with the business sector of eastern Bolivia to extend the border (...) to intensive agriculture, genetically modified soybean, sugar cane plantations and the empowerment of pastures for cattle breeding ", denounces Leonardo Tamburini, director of the NGO Cejis.
Environmentalists point to a 2016 law that expands authorized deforestation areas from 5 hectares to 20 hectares and a July decree that allows fires under control to deforest.
"The very fact of authorizing controlled fires is an attack on the rights of Mother Earth and citizens in general, because it affects the ecosystem and the environment in which we all develop," Unitas denounced. network of social NGOs.
- The fault of the drought -
Leonardo Tamburini notes that the government of Evo Morales goes against what has long represented the Bolivian head of state: an Indian Aymara, great defender of nature and one of the promoters of the "Universal Declaration of Rights" of Mother Earth ", established at the initiative of the Amerindian peoples who campaign for its adoption by the United Nations Assembly.
"The government has lost track of the philosophical and ideological principles that brought it to power in 2006 and is now based on a model of extractivist development" of massive exploitation of natural resources, he says.
"The Bolivian state has shown how little importance it attaches to Mother Earth when deciding and implementing public policies, focusing on the satisfaction of interests that go against the sustainable use of natural resources. "denounces Unitas.
In recent years, Bolivia has increased international investment agreements, particularly with China, for the exploitation of natural gas and especially lithium, which it hopes to be the fourth largest producer in the world by 2021.
Environmental organizations also denounce minimizing the consequences of fires. The Friends of Nature Foundation (FAN) accuses the government of not taking into account in the official figures the situation in the other Amazonian department of Beni (north).
"The area burned by August 20 is about 1.5 million hectares nationwide," said the organization.
At a time when the Brazilian far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, climate-skeptical, is under international pressure for his management of fires in the Brazilian Amazon, the government of Evo Morales calls drought as the main cause of fires.
"The main problem is the drought, we have known since the summer (Austral) that there was a water deficit.Fires are caused by the drought, it is totally confirmed, besides the winds of recent days that have spread the flames, "said Minister of Agriculture and Lands, César Cocarico.
President Morales, re-elected in 2009 and again in 2014, who obtained from the Constitutional Court the opportunity to present himself without any mandate, also responded to critics: "There are floods, it's Evo's fault Morales, there is drought, it is the fault of Evo Morales, there are fires, it is the fault of Evo Morales ".
FINDINGS :
- Scene of great desolation in the Otuquis National Park, in the south-east of Bolivia.
- Columns of smoke rise from the forest in flames near the city of Altamira, Brazil.
- Bolivians fight the fire at Otuquis National Park, located in Bolivia at the southeast end.
F I N.
Emergency Meeting for the Amazon, August 28, 2019.
Fire - South America
The Brazilian presidency turns around and finally says it is "open" to foreign financial aid.
LIMA (AFP) Peru and Colombia yesterday proposed to the countries of the Amazon region an emergency meeting on 6 September 2019 to coordinate measures to defend the world's largest rainforest, affected by fires.
Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra and his Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque "have agreed to convene a meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the Amazon region in Leticia (Colombia) on September 6, 2019, to unite their efforts To protect the Amazon rainforest, according to a statement issued after a meeting between the two heads of state.
The city of Leticia, in the extreme south of Colombia, is in the middle of the Amazonian forest, on the border with Brazil and Peru.
The purpose of the meeting is "to establish a Pact that will enable sustainable conservation, development and exploitation (of the Amazon) for the benefit of the communities living there, with full respect for national sovereignty," he said. added.
CHANGING YOUR TONE
In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro finally said he was "open" yesterday to financial aid "from foreign organizations and even countries" to fight against fires in the Amazon provided they control the funds, after rejecting the day before a G7 offer.
"The essential point is that this money, once entered Brazil, does not go against the Brazilian sovereignty and that the management of the funds is under our responsibility," said a spokesman for the presidency, the day after a $ 20 million offer from the G7 countries.
Yesterday morning, Mr Bolsonaro had conditioned the arrival of G7 aid to the "withdrawal of insults" by his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
"Mr. Macron must remove the insults he has made against me," he said, about his counterpart's accusations that he had "lied" about his environmental commitments.
"At first he called me a liar and then, according to my information, he said that our sovereignty over the Amazon was an open question," said Jair Bolsonaro before meeting with the governors of the 9 states. Amazon.
MORALES UNDER PRESSURE
Fires in Bolivia, Morales under criticism, August 27, 2019.
c/f : actu.orange.fr/societe/environnement/incendies-en-bolivie-morales-egalement-sous-le-feu-des-critiques-CNT000001i8zhp/photos/des-feux-de-foret-dans-le-parc-national-otuquis-le-26-aout-2019-en-bolivie-13741ac51308c9870ef3ac81c1bdc95f.html
Like Bolivia's President, Bolivian President Evo Morales is the target of criticism from environmentalists, who make his agricultural policy responsible for the fires that have already devastated nearly a million hectares in the eastern part of the country. country.
Put under pressure by environmental organizations, the leader finally accepted on Sunday offers of assistance from several countries in the region and Spain.
Morales has also announced the temporary suspension of his election campaign, while he seeks a disputed fourth term in late October. According to official figures, 950,000 hectares have been ravaged by the flames in the east of the country since May, with a very strong upsurge since mid-August.
At the heart of the critics of environmental organizations, the "touso", practice of slash and burn culture widespread and openly encouraged, according to them, by the government that supports the extension of intensive agricultural activities.
"We are talking about a state policy agreed with the business sector of eastern Bolivia to extend the border (...) to intensive agriculture, genetically modified soybean, sugar cane plantations and the empowerment of pastures for cattle breeding ", denounces Leonardo Tamburini, director of the NGO Cejis.
Environmentalists point to a 2016 law that expands authorized deforestation areas from 5 hectares to 20 hectares and a July decree that allows fires under control to deforest.
"The very fact of authorizing controlled fires is an attack on the rights of Mother Earth and citizens in general, because it affects the ecosystem and the environment in which we all develop," Unitas denounced. network of social NGOs.
- The fault of the drought -
Leonardo Tamburini notes that the government of Evo Morales goes against what has long represented the Bolivian head of state: an Indian Aymara, great defender of nature and one of the promoters of the "Universal Declaration of Rights" of Mother Earth ", established at the initiative of the Amerindian peoples who campaign for its adoption by the United Nations Assembly.
"The government has lost track of the philosophical and ideological principles that brought it to power in 2006 and is now based on a model of extractivist development" of massive exploitation of natural resources, he says.
"The Bolivian state has shown how little importance it attaches to Mother Earth when deciding and implementing public policies, focusing on the satisfaction of interests that go against the sustainable use of natural resources. "denounces Unitas.
In recent years, Bolivia has increased international investment agreements, particularly with China, for the exploitation of natural gas and especially lithium, which it hopes to be the fourth largest producer in the world by 2021.
Environmental organizations also denounce minimizing the consequences of fires. The Friends of Nature Foundation (FAN) accuses the government of not taking into account in the official figures the situation in the other Amazonian department of Beni (north).
"The area burned by August 20 is about 1.5 million hectares nationwide," said the organization.
At a time when the Brazilian far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, climate-skeptical, is under international pressure for his management of fires in the Brazilian Amazon, the government of Evo Morales calls drought as the main cause of fires.
"The main problem is the drought, we have known since the summer (Austral) that there was a water deficit.Fires are caused by the drought, it is totally confirmed, besides the winds of recent days that have spread the flames, "said Minister of Agriculture and Lands, César Cocarico.
President Morales, re-elected in 2009 and again in 2014, who obtained from the Constitutional Court the opportunity to present himself without any mandate, also responded to critics: "There are floods, it's Evo's fault Morales, there is drought, it is the fault of Evo Morales, there are fires, it is the fault of Evo Morales ".
FINDINGS :
- Scene of great desolation in the Otuquis National Park, in the south-east of Bolivia.
- Columns of smoke rise from the forest in flames near the city of Altamira, Brazil.
- Bolivians fight the fire at Otuquis National Park, located in Bolivia at the southeast end.
F I N.
