G7 pledges millions to help fight Amazon fires

Yahoo – AFP, 26 August 2019

Nearly 80,000 forest fires have been detected in Brazil since the beginning
of the year, a little over half in the Amazon region

The G7 has agreed to spend $20 million (18 million euros) on the Amazon, mainly to send fire-fighting aircraft to tackle huge blazes engulfing parts of the world's biggest rainforest, the presidents of France and Chile said Monday.

The G7 club -- comprising Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- also agreed to support a medium-term reforestation plan which will be unveiled at the UN in September, France's Emmanuel Macron and Chile's Sebastian Pinera said at a summit in southwest France.

Brazil would have to agree to any reforestation plan, as would indigenous communities living in the Amazon.

The initiative was announced after G7 leaders meeting in the resort of Biarritz held talks on the environment, focusing on the record number of fires destroying chunks of the Amazon.

Macron had declared the situation in the Amazon region an "international crisis" and made it one of the summit's priorities.

He has threatened to block a huge new trade deal between the EU and Latin America unless Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a climate change sceptic, takes serious steps to protect the forest from logging and mining.

"We must respond to the call of the forest which is burning today in the Amazon," Macron said Monday.

Nearly 80,000 forest fires have been detected in Brazil since the beginning of the year, a little over half in the massive Amazon basin.

Bolsonaro has lashed out at Macron over his criticism and suggested that NGOs could be setting the fires to embarrass him -- without giving any evidence to back the claim.

But at the weekend he finally caved in to international pressure to save a region crucial for maintaining a stable global climate, deploying two aircraft to douse fires and authorising the army to help tackle the blazes.

Speaking in Biarritz, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said new planting was needed "to preserve this universal heritage, which is absolutely essential for the well-being of the world's population."

He said the issue would be discussed during the UN General Assembly in New York in September.

GRAPHIC: Amazon fires still active pic.twitter.com/qFDteP09Vs

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 26 augustus 2019

Brazil's army fights Amazon fires after hundreds of new blazes ignite

France24 – AFP, 25 August 2019

Porto Velho (Brazil) (AFP) - Brazil on Sunday deployed two Hercules C-130 aircraft to douse fires devouring parts of the Amazon rainforest, as hundreds of new blazes were ignited ahead of nationwide protests over the destruction.

Heavy smoke covered the city of Porto Velho in the northwestern state of Rondonia where the defense ministry said the planes have started dumping thousands of liters of water, amid a global uproar over the worst fires in years.

Swathes of the remote region bordering Bolivia have been scorched by the blazes, sending thick smoke billowing into the sky and increasing air pollution across the world's largest rainforest.

Experts say increased land clearing during the months-long dry season to make way for crops or grazing has aggravated the problem this year.

"It gets worse every year -- this year, the smoke has been really serious," Deliana Amorim, 46, told AFP in Porto Velho where half a million people live.

At least seven states, including Rondonia, have requested the army's help in the Amazon, where more than 43,000 troops are based and available to combat fires, officials said.

The fires have triggered a global outcry and are a major topic of concern at the G7 meeting in Biarritz in southern France.

World leaders at the summit have agreed to help the countries affected by the fires "as fast as possible," French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday.

His remarks come amid an escalating war of words with his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro, who he has accused of lying over Brazil's stance on climate change.

Bolsonaro has denounced what he calls Macron's "colonialist mentality."

Trade deal at risk

The fires threaten to torpedo a huge trade agreement between the European Union and South American countries, including Brazil, that took 20 years to negotiate.

Pope Francis on Sunday also voiced concern for the rainforest, which he described as a "vital" lung for the planet.

The latest official figures show 79,513 forest fires have been recorded in Brazil this year, the highest number of any year since 2013.

More than half of the fires are in the massive Amazon basin, where more than 20 million people live. Some 1,130 new fires were ignited between Friday and Saturday, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE).

The new data come as protesters plan to take to the streets across Brazil on Sunday, after thousands held demonstrations in the country and in Europe on Friday.

GRAPHIC: Wildfires active in the Amazon. More than half of the fires are in the massive Amazon basin, where more than 20 million people live pic.twitter.com/SoDx41DWo0

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 25 augustus 2019

Bolsonaro takes on Norway for whaling, but bungles it

Yahoo – AFP, August 19, 2019

Bolsonaro was ridiculed on social media after criticising Norway for whaling
techniques which the country does not use (AFP Photo/Andrija ILIC)

Oslo (AFP) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday responded to Norway's decision to halt its forest protection subsidies, taking to Twitter to criticise the Scandinavian country for its whaling practice and post spectacular -- albeit misleading -- images.

"Look at the killing of whales sponsored by Norway," Bolsonaro wrote on Twitter.

The post includes a video and photographs of a spectacular whale hunt, where mammals in the shallow waters of a bay are slaughtered by people wading on shore, armed with hooked knives. The whales' blood turns the waters red.

However, the images, reportedly taken on May 29 in Norway, illustrate a "grind", a type of pilot whale hunt practised exclusively in the Faroe Islands -- a Danish territory in the North Atlantic.

Norway is one of the few countries in the world that authorises commercial whaling, but the whales are hunted individually, at sea from a ship, and with grenade-mounted harpoons.

"We can confirm that the video/the photos are not from Norway," the Norwegian fisheries ministry told AFP in an email.

"Our whale hunt takes place from ships at sea," he said, arguing that the Norwegian practice was "sustainable".

Bolsonaro was ridiculed on social media for the mix-up.

Bolsonaro posted images of a spectacular whale hunt of a kind practised not in 

Norway, the target of his criticism, but the Faroe Islands -- a Danish territory in 

the North Atlantic (AFP Photo/Mauro Pimentel)

"Haha what a stupid president Brazil has! This is NOT from Norway! We don't kill whales like that. Do your homework to get respected! 'Fake news' as Trump would have said," wrote one Twitter user.

"False information is a crime Mr President," wrote another.

Bolsonaro has been taking digs at Norway since the country announced last week that it, like Germany, was blocking 30 million euros ($33 million) of subsidies to Brazil, accusing it of turning its back on the fight against deforestation.

Norway has been the single largest donor to the Amazon Fund for forest protection, giving almost 830 million euros since its creation 11 years ago, equivalent to almost 95 percent of total funding, with Germany providing most of the remainder.

Backlash

Oslo said Brazil, under Bolsonaro's leadership, "no longer wishes to stop deforestation" and added it unilaterally "broke the agreement" on the Amazon Fund.

Bolsonaro reacted immediately and angrily.

"Norway, isn't that the country that kills whales up there, at the North Pole? And that produces oil too? That is not at all a role model to us. Let them keep their money and let them help Angela Merkel reforest Germany," he said.

Bolsonaro's comments drew an angry reaction from the governors of federal states in the Amazon region which form an inter-state consortium on sustainable development for the world's largest and most diverse tropical rainforest dubbed the Earth's 'lung'.

"We regret the Brazilian government's positions which provoked the suspension of the subsidies" to the Fund," the governors said in a statement.

"We completely oppose all illegal practice of economic activities in the (Amazon) region, they added, saying they would "speak directly with the countries which finance the Fund."

The governors furthermore proposed that the regional Bank of Amazonia become the "financial manager" of the fund in future rather than the state development bank BNDES.

Argentine peso, stock exchange plummet after crushing Macri vote defeat

Yahoo – AFP, Sonia AVALOS, August 12, 2019

Argentina's peso has plunged after primary elections dealt a blow to pro-business
President Mauricio Macri's hopes for re-election (AFP Photo/RONALDO SCHEMIDT)

Buenos Aires (AFP) - Argentina's peso and the Buenos Aires stock exchange plunged on Monday after populist center-left candidate Alberto Fernandez crushed pro-business President Mauricio Macri in a party primary election over the weekend.

Nervousness reigned as the peso opened at 53 to the dollar, a drop of 14 percent from its closing figure of 46.55 on Friday, before plummeting further to 60.

And the Merval index crashed 30 percent, too, as markets reacted with jitters to Macri's rout.

Macri called a meeting with Central Bank president Guido Sandleris before the markets opened on Monday, while putting back his morning cabinet meeting to 3:30 pm (1830 GMT.)

The Central Bank bought $50 million in pesos to try to halt the slide, but to no avail.

On Sunday, center-right Macri was dealt a huge blow in his bid for re-election in October when he polled 15 points less than center-left Peronist candidate Fernandez.

"The president cannot have peace of mind. The markets are giving warning that the government has put itself in a position it cannot respond to," Fernandez told Radio 10 on Monday.

Argentina is currently in a recession and posted 22 percent inflation for the first half of the year -- one of the highest rates in the world.

Poverty now affects 32 percent of the population.

Alberto Fernandez, candidate of the Frente de Todos (Front for All) party, (L) was
 the top vote-getter in Argentina's presidential primaries, dealing a major blow to President
Mauricio Macri, who is running for re-election (AFP Photo/Juan MABROMATA,
Alejandro PAGNI)

'Profound dissatisfaction'

Backed by the International Monetary Fund, Macri has initiated an austerity plan that is deeply unpopular among ordinary Argentines, who have seen their spending power diminished dramatically.

The peso lost half its value against the dollar last year.

But the Buenos Aires stock exchange shot up eight percent on Friday amid expectation that Macri would do well in Sunday's vote.

Those hopes were quickly quashed as it lost 10 percent when operations opened on Monday, before plunging further during the first two hours of trading.

The worst hit shares lost 46 percent of their value.

Macri now faces a daunting task of trying to overturn a huge deficit in just two and a half months.

"The vote shows a profound dissatisfaction with the economic situation (and) the worry within society that the government is disconnected from reality and wasn't up to tackling the problems," political analyst Carlos Fara told AFP.

Macri managed only 32 percent in the party primaries that effectively acted as a nationwide pre-election opinion poll as all of the South American country's major parties had already chosen their presidential candidates.

Main economic indicators for Argentina. (AFP Photo/Nicolas RAMALLO)

"We've had a bad election and that forces us to redouble our efforts from tomorrow," said Macri, whose popularity has plunged since last year's currency crisis and the much-criticized $56 billion IMF bail-out loan he secured.

"It hurts that we haven't had the support we'd hoped for," admitted Macri.

Political analyst Sergio Berensztein described it as the government's "worst political crisis."

Fernandez scored 47 percent and if he repeats that result in the October 27 general election first round, he would win outright without need for a November 24 run-off.

Argentina's electoral law requires a candidate to gain 45 percent for outright victory, or 40 percent and a lead of at least 10 points over the nearest challenger.

"We're going to begin a new stage. We always fix the problems that others create," said Fernandez to thousands of cheering supporters in Buenos Aires on Sunday night.

Analyst Rosendo Fraga said Macri and Fernandez need to come to a bipartisan "governability agreement," otherwise "it's going to be very difficult to build confidence" in the markets between now and October's vote.

Brazilian Amazon deforestation surges, embattled institute says

Yahoo – AFP, August 7, 2019

.Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a climate change sceptic, has accused the
country's National Institute of Space Research of publishing misleading data
on the environment (AFP Photo/RAPHAEL ALVES)

Sao Paulo (AFP) - Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon increased 278 percent year-over-year in July, according to official data released Tuesday by a government institute embroiled in a row with President Jair Bolsonaro over the scale of the problem.

The National Institute for Space Research, known by its initials INPE, said that deforestation had cleared 870 square miles (around 2,250 square kilometers) of rainforest over the month.

The Brazilian president, a climate change sceptic, and his environment minister Ricardo Salles have previously accused the INPE of publishing misleading data, claiming the figures "don't correspond to the truth" and were damaging to the institute and the country.

Data from INPE, an institution of international repute, shows that deforestation has increased 40 percent in the last twelve months compared with the same period a year ago.

Amazon rainforest deforestation had increased 88 percent on-year in June alone.

Last week, INPE president Ricardo Galvao was sacked following disagreements with Bolsonaro over deforestation in the Amazon, fueling criticism of the president from environmental groups.

The president suggested Galvao was "in the service of some NGOs" before dismissing him on Friday.

Bolsonaro was helped in his election last year by support from the powerful agriculture lobby.

He has previously floated the idea of opening up protected rainforest areas to agriculture, a highly controversial move given the existing level of deforestation.

Bolsonaro vows to fight 'illegal deforestation' in Brazil

Yahoo – AFP, August 4, 2019

President Jair Bolsonaro has previously floated the idea of opening up protected
rainforest areas to agriculture (AFP Photo/EVARISTO SA)

Brasília (AFP) - Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro vowed Saturday to combat "illegal deforestation," a day after the head of the agency that measures deforestation said he was being sacked after a row over the scale of the problem in the Amazon rainforest.

"We are going to act effectively in the fight against illegal deforestation," Bolsonaro wrote on his Facebook account, along with a video in which environment minister Ricardo Salles said the government would bring in new technology to measure deforestation with greater precision.

A day earlier, the head of Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Ricardo Galvao, said he was being sacked after a row with Bolsonaro over deforestation.

Bolsonaro, a climate change skeptic, claimed the INPE figures "don't correspond to the truth" and were damaging to the institute and the country.

The president has previously floated the idea of opening up protected rainforest areas to agriculture, a highly controversial move given the existing level of deforestation.

"We cannot accept sensationalism, or the disclosure of inaccurate numbers that cause great damage to Brazil's image," Bolsonaro said, reiterating comments from his row over the INPE figures.

The latest data released by INPE, an institution of international repute, shows that deforestation has increased 40 percent in the last two months compared to the same period a year ago.

On Thursday, Bolsonaro, Salles and other ministers had refuted the INPE satellite data and said the methodologies for measuring deforestation would be changed.

The government admits deforestation has increased but insists it is not as great as indicated by the agency.

The sacking of Galvao fueled criticism from environmental groups.

"Bolsonaro knows that his government is primarily responsible for the current destruction of the Amazon. The dismissal of the director of INPE is nothing more than an act of revenge against those who show the truth," said Marcio Astrini from Greenpeace.

For many years, NGOs defending the environment and the territorial rights of indigenous people have criticized the agriculture industry and major land owners for constantly trying to expand into virgin lands, including those protected by law.

Bolsonaro, though, was helped in his election last year by support from the powerful agriculture lobby.

The president suffered a blow on Thursday when the Supreme Court cancelled a decree transferring the right to demarcate indigenous lands from the National Indian Foundation to the Ministry of Agriculture, a bulwark of the agriculture industry's interests.