Leaders of the Group of Seven nations said on Sunday 25th August, that they are preparing to help Brazil battle fires burning across the Amazon region and repair the damage as tens of thousands of soldiers gets ready to join the fight against blazes that have caused global alarm.
KRC TIMES Desk
The G7 leaders have vowed to help Brazil fight Amazon forest fires and repair damage in the region.
French President Emmanuel Macron said, that the summit leaders are nearing to an agreement on how to support Brazil.
He said the agreement will involve both technical and financial mechanisms so that G7 nations can help them in the most effective way possible.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted that he has spoken over the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have said that Israel will be sending a specialised plane to help in the firefighting operation.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, her country and others will talk with Brazil about reforestation in the Amazon once fires are extinguished there. She said, Amazon forest fires are a global question and G7 countries must find a common solution.
Pope Francis have also added his voice of concern over the fires in Brazil, which borders his homeland in Argentina. He has urged the people to pray so that “they are controlled as quickly as possible.” He told a crowd in St. Peter’s Square that “we’re all worried” about the Amazon fires. He warned that the green “lung of forest is vital for our planet.”
Brazilian President Bolsonaro have announced on Friday, 23rd August, that his government will be sending 44,000 soldiers to help battle the fires that are scattered across the vast Amazon, an overall region 10 times the size of Texas that is seen as a global bulwark against climate change.
Only a few hundred troops had been sent so far. Brazil’s federal police agency announced that it would investigate reports that farmers in the state of Para, one of those most affected by the blazes, had called for “a day of fire”.
Justice Minister Sergio Moro, who oversees the police, said that, Bolsonaro had asked for a rigorous investigation and the criminal fires will be severely punished.
Though critics have earlier accused Bolsonaro’s pro-development policies of encouraging farmers and ranchers to increase efforts to strip away the forest, though the president has issued repeated pledges recently to protect the area and backed that up by sending in soldiers and other federal forces.
