Brazil’s leader to send army to fight huge fires in the Amazon

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has authorised the use of the military to battle the huge blazes sweeping parts of the Amazon while thousands took to the streets to protest his environmental policies.

Brazilian forces will deploy to border areas, indigenous territories and other affected regions in the Amazon from Saturday to assist in putting out fires for a month, according to a presidential decree authorising use of the army.

The military will “act strongly” to control the wildfires, Mr Bolsonaro promised as he signed the decree.

The armed forces will collaborate with public security and environmental protection agencies, the decree says.

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has authorised the use of the military to battle the huge blazes sweeping parts of the Amazon while thousands took to the streets to protest his environmental policies.

Brazilian forces will deploy to border areas, indigenous territories and other affected regions in the Amazon from Saturday to assist in putting out fires for a month, according to a presidential decree authorising use of the army.

The military will “act strongly” to control the wildfires, Mr Bolsonaro promised as he signed the decree.

The armed forces will collaborate with public security and environmental protection agencies, the decree says.

“The protection of the forest is our duty,” the president said.

“We are aware of that and will act to combat deforestation and criminal activities that put people at risk in the Amazon.

“We are a government of zero tolerance for crime, and in the environmental field it will not be different.”

Mr Bolsonaro has previously described rainforest protections as an obstacle to Brazil’s economic development, sparring with critics who note that the Amazon produces vast amounts of oxygen and is considered crucial for efforts to contain climate change.

As the president spoke, thousands of Brazilians demonstrated in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and the capital of Brasilia demanding the government announce concrete actions to curb the fires.

Link.

[K. A. Pital]

Yeah, too little, and too late. The fascist who has encouraged the burning and let oversight erode now has found that domestic protests and foreign pressure can impact his popularity, and probably wants to pose as saviour.

But people with half a brain know the history behind Bolsonaro's actions and his politics.

Still, the fires have to be stopped, even if he's just doing it for absolutely self-serving, disgusting goals.

[ray245]

Yeah, too little, and too late. The fascist who has encouraged the burning and let oversight erode now has found that domestic protests and foreign pressure can impact his popularity, and probably wants to pose as saviour.

But people with half a brain know the history behind Bolsonaro's actions and his politics.

Still, the fires have to be stopped, even if he's just doing it for absolutely self-serving, disgusting goals.

The only good thing that comes from this is capitalists will know a limit they can push with things before foreign pressure and domestic protest will actively get annoyed with them.

The inability to articulate a measurable financial value on the importance of keeping the rainforest alive is the biggest issue within the current economic framework.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Yeah, too little, and too late. The fascist who has encouraged the burning and let oversight erode now has found that domestic protests and foreign pressure can impact his popularity, and probably wants to pose as saviour.

But people with half a brain know the history behind Bolsonaro's actions and his politics.

Still, the fires have to be stopped, even if he's just doing it for absolutely self-serving, disgusting goals.

The only good thing that comes from this is capitalists will know a limit they can push with things before foreign pressure and domestic protest will actively get annoyed with them.

The inability to articulate a measurable financial value on the importance of keeping the rainforest alive is the biggest issue within the current economic framework.

Probably because such a thing is impossible to calculate- how much is the survival of the human race worth?

[K. A. Pital]

It is high price for learning the limits of destruction that can be inflicted on the biosphere.

Besides, what prevents them from doing the same thing next year? Outrage? The forests will be gone by the time the outrage starts impacting things, if at all.

[ray245]

Probably because such a thing is impossible to calculate- how much is the survival of the human race worth?

You probably can, given that humans do value the concept of survival of the human race. It's just that the existing economic system is not designed to deal with such values. It's more designed to give weight on short term personal interest.

[Aleister Crowley]

This man is being pretty shitty if you ask me. He is PRETENDING to care about trees in the Amazon (which is important mind you) but he has less concern for the human beings in his country's prisons. As far as I can tell there is little talk of reforming the prison system, which is abysmal. Most of the prisons in the country are in terrible shape, overrun by gangs, and full of people who can't pay their way out. The end result is a huge population of people who are both poor and incarcerated. This means that if you're rich, you can break the law with impunity in Brazil. I see the value of protecting the environment as much as anybody, since it does impact human beings. Though I do hold the welfare and quality of life of those same human beings to be of high priority as well.

I know this isn't a thread about Brazil and it's problems, but what the president of Brazil is doing is part of a larger problem. Sometimes people get stuck on the symptoms and forget to deal with the disease. What Brazil ultimately needs is a government that is actually representing the people's wishes. Then maybe we can deal with the other problems caused by bad government - such as the intentional setting of fires to forests. Oh and social issues that affect the lower 80% of the population. Oh well, I and everyone else can dream.

[FaxModem1]

BBC

Amazon fires: G7 to release funds for fire-fighting planes
26 August 2019
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Related TopicsAmazon fires

Media caption"It's extremely upsetting... to see this kind of devastation" - the BBC's Will Grant flew over northern Rondonia state
International leaders at the G7 summit have agreed to provide logistical and financial support to help fight fires in the Amazon rainforest.

French President Emmanuel Macron said G7 countries would release $22m (£18m).

However, President Jair Bolsonaro said Mr Macron's plan of an "alliance" to "save" the Amazon treated Brazil "as if we were a colony or no man's land".

A record number of fires are burning in Brazil, mostly in the Amazon, according to the country's space research agency.

The funding pledge was announced as the leaders of the G7 - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US - continue to meet in Biarritz, France.

Mr Macron said the funds would be made available "immediately" - primarily to pay for more fire-fighting planes - and that France would also "offer concrete support with military in the region within the next few hours".

However, Mr Bolsonaro - who has been engaged in a public row with Mr Macron in recent weeks - accused the French leader of launching "unreasonable and gratuitous attacks against the Amazon region", and "hiding his intentions behind the idea of an 'alliance' of G7 countries".

He wrote on Twitter that Brazil's sovereignty should be respected - and said he had discussed with Colombia's president the need for "a joint plan" from the countries that actually made up the Amazon region.

Despite Mr Bolsonaro's comments, his environment minister, Ricardo Salles, told reporters that the funding was welcome, Reuters news agency reports.

President Macron last week described the fires as an "international crisis" and pushed for them to be prioritised at the G7 summit which his country is hosting.

G7 leaders also intend to discuss plans to reforest the Amazon, at the United Nations general assembly meeting in September.

The severity of the fires, and the response by Brazil's government, has prompted a global outcry and protests.

According to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), more than 75,000 fires have been recorded in Brazil so far in 2019, most of them in the Amazon region.

Critics have accused Brazil's President, Jair Bolsonaro, of "green lighting" the Amazon's destruction through anti-environmental rhetoric and a lack of action on deforestation violations.

What is Brazil doing?
On Friday, facing mounting pressure from abroad, President Bolsonaro authorised the military to help tackle the blazes.

The Defence Ministry has said that 44,000 troops are available to help in the effort and officials said on Sunday that military intervention has been authorised in seven states.

Warplanes have also been drafted in to dump water on the areas affected.

The president tweeted on Sunday that he had also accepted an offer of support from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

President Bolsonaro has previously been critical of the response of foreign governments and accused them of interfering in Brazil's national sovereignty.

On Saturday, EU Council president Donald Tusk admitted it was hard to imagine the bloc ratifying the long-awaited EU-Mercosur agreement - a landmark trade deal with South American nations - while Brazil was still failing to curb the blazes.

As criticism mounted again last week, Finland's finance minister went as far as calling for the EU to consider banning Brazilian beef imports altogether.

How bad are the fires?
Wildfires often occur in the dry season in Brazil, but satellite data published by Inpe has shown an increase of 85% this year.

Environmental activists have drawn links between President Bolsonaro's attitudes towards the environment and the recent surge in the number of fires in the famous rainforest.


Media captionMembers of Brazil's indigenous Mura tribe vow to defend their land
President Bolsonaro has been accused of emboldening miners and loggers who deliberately start fires to illegally deforest land. Earlier this month he accused Inpe of trying to undermine his government with data revealing sharp increases in deforestation levels.

BBC analysis has also found that the record number of fires being recorded also coincide with a sharp drop off in fines being handed out for environmental violations.

Neighbouring Bolivia is also struggling to contain fires burning in its forests.

On Sunday President Evo Morales suspended his re-election campaign and said he was prepared to accept international help to tackle blazes in his country's Chiquitania region.

Why is the Amazon important?
As the largest rainforest in the world, the Amazon is a vital carbon store that slows down the pace of global warming. It spans a number of countries, but the majority of it falls within Brazil.


Media captionWhy the Amazon rainforest helps fight climate change
It is known as the "lungs of the world" for its role in absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen.

The rainforest is also home to about three million species of plants and animals and one million indigenous people.

Amazon: Lungs of the planet
Political leaders, celebrities and environmentalists are among those who have called for action to protect the Amazon.

Thousands of protesters have also taken to the streets across the world calling on governments to intervene.

On Sunday, Pope Francis also joined the call to protect the rainforest.

"We are all worried about the vast fires that have developed in the Amazon. Let us pray so that with the commitment of all, they can be put out soon. That lung of forests is vital for our planet," he told thousands of people in St Peter's Square.

Well, the G7 are offering a paltry 20 million. And Brazil is acting like this money is colonialism or invasion by the French.

The environment destroyed by petty nationalism in a time of crisis. yay......

[Broomstick]

Too little, too late. 20 trillion would be too little too late.

The destruction of the Amazon by fire was predicted for many years by various parties, a predictable outcome of climate change and stubborn continuation of stupid human practices.

We've been warned over and over about this sort of thing and yet collectively we do nothing to stop the destruction, or even slow it. Eventually, Mother Earth will motherfuck the human race and that will be truly ugly. I'm no longer even hopeful that it will be after my lifetime.

[mr friendly guy]

Bolsonaro rejected funding anyway and has gotten into a diplomatic spat with Macron, using Trump style tactics, giving hid approval to a post by someone comparing Bolsonaro's wife with Macrons.

[Darth Yan]

Brazillians are starting to get buyers remorse from this guy. Anyway we aren't doomed but we're certainly going to get a beating unless we take action

[Broomstick]

At this point, we're going to get a beating even IF we take take - the action isn't whether or not we take a beating, it's now how bad is the beating going to be?

[The Romulan Republic]

Yeah, let's let the source of a fifth of the planet's and God knows how many undiscovered species, as well as indigenous tribes, burn to ash and smoke for the sake of a strong man's pride.

You know what? I'm going to say something fairly radical, and because of my reputation here, I want to make it perfectly clear that the following statement is not meant as hyperbole, and that I have carefully considered it before posting:

The President of Brazil's actions amount to a crime against humanity, for which he should stand trial. And if Brazil cannot get the fires under control on its own, soon, the rest of the world should intervene- over the wreckage of the Brazilian air force if necessary. Because the act of environmental destruction being perpetrated here for a strong man's pride is a crime against the entire human race, and the entire planet.

And before anyone screams "Imperialist!", I take the same view of Trump's environmental policy, with the caveat that I do not support military intervention against the US on the grounds that a full-scale nuclear exchange would be even more damaging than Trump's economic policy.

[AniThyng]

So what you're basically saying with this policy is Brazil and everyone else is going to double down on getting nuclear weapons or increasing what they already have...

[The Romulan Republic]

So what you're basically saying with this policy is Brazil and everyone else is going to double down on getting nuclear weapons or increasing what they already have...

Maybe, but my position is based on two simple truths:

1. Allowing the source of a significant percentage of the Earth's oxygen to burn for petty political reasons is unacceptable if we wish to continue as a species.

2. A full-scale nuclear exchange is also unacceptable if we wish to continue as a species.

[Ralin]

Man, can you imagine how much rainforest an out and out war over and in the Amazon would destroy? Militaries have pretty damned big carbon footprints.

[The Romulan Republic]

Man, can you imagine how much rainforest an out and out war over and in the Amazon would destroy? Militaries have pretty damned big carbon footprints.

Yeah.

I suppose you have to weigh how much damage action would do vs how much inaction would do. But doing nothing while the rain forest burns sure isn't an acceptable answer. Especially if this is going to keep happening. What happens when the next fire comes, and the next one, and the next one?

Edit: I also feel like "If you fuck over the entire planet environmentally for petty reasons, the rest of the planet will fuck you up right back" might not be a bad precedent to set right now, by way of deterrence.

[mr friendly guy]

One of the reasons people have speculated why Brazil is keen to clear out rainforest, is because they can use the land for farming. This of course leads back to the trade war which the US started. China is buying less soy from the US and more from Brazil. This incentivises Brazil to produce more soy and hence clear the Amazon.

[The Romulan Republic]

One of the reasons people have speculated why Brazil is keen to clear out rainforest, is because they can use the land for farming. This of course leads back to the trade war which the US started. China is buying less soy from the US and more from Brazil. This incentivises Brazil to produce more soy and hence clear the Amazon.

In Age of Sail naval law, there was a term used to designate pirates as stateless individuals whom any country's navy could attack if they found them- "Hostis Humani Generis", translated as "Enemies of all Mankind."

That term fits the Trump Regime, its cronies and enablers at home and abroad, and all others who willfully destroy the planetary ecosystem, very well.

[AniThyng]

Outside military interventions to overthrow governments always leave collateral damage, mind you...

[mr friendly guy]

Should also point out, 60% of the Amazon is in Brazil, but other countries who also share the Amazon might not have Bolsanaro's views on deforestation also get a share of the Amazon.

Also all hope is not loss. Increasing vegetation since the 2000s, according to NASA has added an extra Amazon forest of vegetation, (although I am unsure how well these new greenery cope as carbon sinks vs the Amazon). One quarter of that is from China, mainly in the form of reforestation. India also contributed, although their vegetation is mainly in the form of agriculture rather than reforestation so I am guessing not as great a carbon sink.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society ... nasa-study

[mr friendly guy]

Should also point out, 60% of the Amazon is in Brazil, but other countries who also share the Amazon might not have Bolsanaro's views on deforestation also get a share of the Amazon.

Typo. It should read " Should also point out, 60% of the Amazon is in Brazil, but other countries who also share the Amazon might not have Bolsanaro's views on deforestation."

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Should also point out, 60% of the Amazon is in Brazil, but other countries who also share the Amazon might not have Bolsanaro's views on deforestation also get a share of the Amazon.

Typo. It should read " Should also point out, 60% of the Amazon is in Brazil, but other countries who also share the Amazon might not have Bolsanaro's views on deforestation."

What was a total piss-take was Bolsanaro's measly two-month ban on starting more fires.