Cebr, Public university in Brasília, Brazil

The G7 aid offer was announced by French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.Rejecting the aid, Bolsonaro on late Monday said Brazil was not a "colonial territory" and that there was "a hidden agenda" behind Macron's offer.Bolsonaro's Defence Minister said the fires in the Amazon were "not out of control". Commenting on the G7 offer of aid, Bolsonaro's Chief of Staff Onyx Lorenzoni told the Globo news website: "Thanks, but maybe those resources are more relevant to reforest Europe.""Macron cannot even avoid a predictable fire in a church that is part of the world's heritage, and he wants to give us lessons for our country?" Lorenzoni added, in a reference to the fire that hit Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris in April.Brazil's Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo tweeted on Monday: "No one needs a 'new initiative for the Amazon' as Macron suggests when there are already several mechanisms under the UN Climate Convention to fund the fight against deforestation."In a joint news conference Monday with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, Macron announced that G7 countries would allocate $22 million in emergency funding to help with efforts to prevent fires in the Amazon rainforest. He also said France would provide military support in the region to fight the fires.A record number of fires are burning in Brazil, mostly in the Amazon, according to the country's space research agency, Inpe. Macron last week described the fires as an "international crisis" and called for an emergency meeting of G7 countries regarding the fires.In an interview with French public broadcaster France 2 at the conclusion of the G7 summit in Biarritz, Macron said Bolsonaro's attitude towards deforestation could derail ratification of the free trade agreement between the EU and the Mercosur group."We respect your sovereignty. It's your country," said Macron, before insisting that the Amazon fires are a global issue."The Amazon forest is a subject for the whole planet We cannot allow you to destroy everything," he added.In response to this, the Brazilian Foreign Minister said: "The efforts made by some political currents to extrapolate real environmental issues by transforming them into a fabricated 'crisis' as a pretext for introducing mechanisms for external control of the Amazon are very evident."Brazil will not accept any initiative that involves relativizing sovereignty over its territory, whatever the pretext and whatever the guise."The Brazilian armed forces, deployed by Bolsonaro in the fight against the fires, are reportedly operating in eight of the nine Amazon states.The mobilization of the troops was announced on August 23 by Bolsonaro as the first measure to fight fires amid strong condemnation he has received for the government's lack of action against illegal deforestation of the Amazon.( With inputs from IANS )

CebrFOLLOW

Cebr, Latest News

In a significant find, researchers have discovered that right-wing users are more effective in using Facebook-owned WhatsApp to spread news, disinformation and opinions during elections. ...

Brazil's government published a decree that prohibits for 60 days the use of fire to clear land for crops and cattle grazing in the Amazon region, which is suffering its worst blazes in recent years. ...

Brazil on Thursday banned setting fires to clear land for 60 days in response to a massive increase in the number of fires in the Amazon rainforest. ...

The US government has said that it did not approve the offer of $20 million in aid to Brazil made by the G7 member nations to fight the devastating wildfires in the Amazon rainforest. ...

The Governors of the nine Brazilian states worst affected by a record number of fires have urged President Jair Bolsonaro to accept foreign aid to fight the blazes, the media reported on Wednesday. ...

Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra and his Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque have pledged to work together to protect the Amazon region amid international concern over wildfires that are destroying large tracts of the rainforest. ...

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday said that the fires raging across the Amazon rainforest are "distressing" but that his government must consider its own country's challenges before offering help to fight them. ...

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has rejected a $22 million aid package offered by G7 countries to help battle fierce forest fires in the Amazon rainforest, which is often regarded as the planet's "lungs". ...