AUGUST 22, 2019 / 6:51 AM / UPDATED 11 MINUTES AGO
Anthony Boadle, Stephen Eisenhammer
4 MIN READ
SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - The Brazilian government lacks the resources to fight a record number of wildfires burning in the Amazon rainforest, President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday, weeks after telling donors he did not need their money.
“The Amazon is bigger than Europe, how will you fight criminal fires in such an area?,” he asked reporters as he left the presidential residence. “We do not have the resources for that.”
Fires in the Amazon have surged 83% so far this year compared with the same period a year earlier, government figures show, destroying vast swathes of a forest considered a vital bulwark against climate change.
Although fires are a regular and natural occurrence during the regular dry season at this time of year, environmentalists blamed the sharp rise on farmers setting the forest alight to clear land for pasture.
Federal prosecutors in Brazil said on Thursday they are investigating a spike in deforestation and wildfires raging in the Amazon state of Pará to determine whether there has been reduced monitoring and enforcement of environmental protections there.
Prosecutors also said they will investigate an ad reportedly published by a local newspaper last week encouraging farmers to participate in a “Fire Day,” in which they would burn large areas of forest “to show Bolsonaro their willingness to work.”
More:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-politics/bolsonaro-says-brazil-lacks-resources-to-fight-amazon-fires-idUKKCN1VC1AT
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