In an official decree released on Thursday, Brazil’s government has banned most forms of legal fires for 60 days, as fires rage across the Amazon threatening permanent devastation of the rainforests with global consequences.
The period of the ban coincides with the dry season, which is when most fires are started. Under the Foresty Code, fires may only be permitted in specific cases and with the approval of an environmental entity. However, regulations are looser on indigenous people who rely on subsistence farming.
Brazil has deployed 44,000 troops to tackle the fires, alongside twi C-130 Hercules aircraft to be used as water bombers.
Cattle ranchers and soya cultivators often turn to slash-and-burn methods to clear land.
The move comes after the fires gained international attention, with world leaders at the G-7 summit issuing a statement offering to help Brazil put out the flames. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has, however, rejected the offer of $20 million, following differences between him and French President Emmanuel Macron. Bolsonaro later said that he would accept the money is Macron issued an apology.
Macron earlier said that Bolsonaro had lied to him, while Bolsonaro, in turn, had commented on a Facebook post that mocked Macron’s wife — further deteriorating relations between the two leaders.
2019 saw an 84 per cent jump in the number of fires in the Amazon compared to the previous year. Ecologists worry that the fires could push the rainforest, which acts as a major carbon sink for the earth, to a tipping point from which recovery would no longer be possible.
