Happy Amazon Day (9/5)! 29,000 Fires Confirmed In August; Bolsonaro Refers To NGOs as "Cancer"
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is under renewed criticism over widespread wildfires in the country's Amazon rainforest, which rights groups say have reached an "alarming" level so far this year. A group of environmental NGOs launched a website called Defund Bolsonaro this week, AFP news agency reported, urging potential investors in Brazil to insist on firm government commitments to protect the Amazon.
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The rights group said Brazil's space research institute (INPE) estimated that about 63,000 fires had been detected between the start of the year and August 31. It also said deforestation had increased by 34.5 percent between August 2019 and July 2020 compared with the same period a year earlier, and it had destroyed about 9,205 square kilometres (3,554 square miles) of the forest.
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But the far-right Brazilian leader this week denounced what he said was an international conspiracy, accusing him of being responsible for the fires. "You know that NGOs don't have a voice with me. I am firm with these people, but I can't kill this cancer that most NGOs are," Bolsonaro said during his regular Facebook broadcast on Thursday.
Satellite images from INPE, the Brazilian space research institute, identified more than 29,000 fires in the region in August, the second-highest number in 10 years. The figure represents only 5 percent fewer fires than in 2019.
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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/brazil-faces-renewed-pressure-protect-amazon-rainforest-200905183005097.html
