Brazil bans fires in Amazon rainforest as investors demand results
The investors were threatening to pull out if Bolsanaro's government didn't act to stop the fires. But they said they were being unfairly blamed because the government had inherited understaffed environmental agencies. But surely they've had enough time to hire more people by now. They've been sending the military to fight the fires.
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil’s government announced on Thursday it planned to ban setting fires in the Amazon for 120 days, in a meeting with global investors to address their rising concerns over destruction of the rainforest.
The decree banning fires, set to be issued next week, repeats a similar temporary ban instituted last year when forest fires surged, provoking outcry that Brazil was not doing enough to protect the world’s largest rainforest.
Brazil’s government, led by Vice President Hamilton Mourao, had arranged Thursday’s video conference in response to a letter sent by 29 global firms demanding the government stop environmental destruction that has surged since right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office at the start of last year.
Some firms are putting additional investments in Brazil on hold or threatening to divest if Bolsonaro’s government does not act.
The investors were threatening to pull out if Bolsanaro's government didn't act to stop the fires. But they said they were being unfairly blamed because the government had inherited understaffed environmental agencies. But surely they've had enough time to hire more people by now. They've been sending the military to fight the fires.
Mourao said in a briefing after the meeting that Brazil was being unfairly criticized over Amazon deforestation and that the government had inherited understaffed environmental agencies.
For example, Mourao said the government does not have enough personnel to stop outsiders from entering 1 million square kilometers of protected indigenous lands that are being increasingly invaded by illegal loggers and gold miners.