Brazil rejects £18m Amazon aid claiming fund is better spent reforesting Europe

The Brazilian government today dismissed an £18 million aid offer from G7 countries to tackle wildfires raging in the Amazon and suggested that the money might be better spent trying to “reforest Europe”.

French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to release the cash after hosting the G7 summit in Biarritz, calling the rainforest the “lungs of the planet”. But following the offer, Brazil’s Right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro continued a war of words with Mr Macron by accusing France of treating the country like a colony. His chief of staff, Onyx Lorenzoni, today told the Globo news website: “Thanks, but maybe those resources are more relevant to reforest Europe.”

Referring to the fire that damaged Notre-Dame cathedral in April, Mr Lorenzoni added: “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?” He claimed that Brazil could teach “any nation” how to protect native forests.

A record number of fires are burning in Brazil, which President Macron has described as an “international crisis”.

He said the funds would be made available primarily to pay for more fire-fighting planes, adding that France would also “offer concrete support with military in the region”.

But Mr Bolsonaro accused the French leader of launching “unreasonable and gratuitous attacks against the Amazon region”. He suggested the West was trying to gain access to his country’s natural resources and that Mr Macron was “hiding his intentions behind the idea of an ‘alliance’ of G7 countries”.

Mr Bolsonaro has been criticised over his handling of the fires and his pursuit of economic growth at the expense of the forest, known as the “lungs of the world” for its role in absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen.

The row between the two presidents began when Mr Macron tweeted a photo of fires burning from February 2018 and said: “Our house is burning. Literally. The Amazon rain forest — the lungs which produces 20% of our planet’s oxygen — is on fire.”

Mr Bolsonaro then hit back at his “misplaced colonialist mindset” and said: “I regret that Macron seeks to make personal political gains in an internal matter for Brazil and other Amazonian countries. The sensationalist tone he used does nothing to solve the problem.”

War of words: Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro
AFP/Getty Images

Mr Macron also criticised his counterpart for endorsing “rude” remarks about his wife, Brigitte, in reference to a Facebook photo comparing the two presidents’ wives. Speaking after the summit ended yesterday, Mr Macron said his message to the President was: “We cannot allow you to destroy everything... The Amazon forest is a subject for the whole planet. We can help you reforest. We can find the means for your economic development that respects the natural balance.”

Mr Macron also acknowledged that Europe, by importing soya from Brazil, was not entirely without blame for the agricultural pressure on the rainforest, and said: “We are partly complicit.” Brazil says 44,000 soldiers have been deployed to combat the fires and “environmental crimes” in the Amazon.

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