 |
| Aerial view of the Amazon rainforest (Wikipedia) |
IN one youth forum in Adamson University five days ago,
the young students were asked, “What social issue concerns you most at the
present moment?” One raided up his hand and said: “The burning of the Amazon.”
I admire the student. His answer shows that he is in touch with global issues. His
concern for the on-going wild fires in the Amazon reflects the alarm of many
people all over the world.
The Amazon is one of the greatest reserves of
biodiversity on earth as it has 30 to 50% of the world’s flora and fauna, and
20% of the unfrozen fresh water of the whole planet. Moreover, over a third of
the planet’s primary forests are concentrated there, so that its capacity to
capture carbon and to breathe out oxygen in the planet is significant. Rightly
then is it called the “lungs” of the earth. Its extent is enormous, covering
over seven and a half million kilometers. It encompasses nine countries:
Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Surinam, Venezuela, and
French Guyana.
The fires currently ingulfing the region is very
alarming. As of August 14, the number of fires rose to 32,728 – 60% more than
the average for the past three years. Drought, a common factor in this
destruction, does not explain the fires on this occasion, as the current dry
season is less severe than in previous years.
Jair Bolsonaro,
President of Brazil since January of this year, is under fire because of these
fires. “Bolsonaro Out!” is the cry heard in the streets of Barcelona, London,
Paris and other European cities and in Brazilian cities as well. Brazil’s
Amazon jungle covers 3.3 million square kilometers, accounting for around 60%
of the entire rainforest. Bolsonaro and his Environment Minister Ricardo Salles
have denigrated the environmental movement and dismantled the system of
environmental protection, reviving the appetite of landholders, especially
cattle ranchers, for clearing land. Many of these fires are the result of
clearing the land for deforestation to reclaim more lands from the forest for
agribusiness and ranchers. Bolsonaro’s right-wing government has cut in half of
the budget of the Prev-Fire, a system for preventing and fighting forest fires.
Moreover, the presidential attacks on the government agencies that monitor and
combat deforestation “encouraged” the sectors that destroy forests illegally. The
international press has widely condemned the government’s anti-environmentalist
attitudes, making Brazil the new climate change villain.
The Church is also very much concerned about these fires.
The Latin American Bishops in their statement on August 22, 2019 stressed the
seriousness of this tragedy, which is not only of local nor regional impact,
but of planetary proportions. The international community is also speaking
about this. It considers the uncontrolled fires as an “international crisis”
and it was talked about at the August 24-26 summit of the Group of Seven (G7)
advanced economies in Biarritz, in southern France. Unfortunately, Brazil has
turned down the 20M USD the G7 pledged as foreign aid to fight the fires.
Politics, and personal pride of world leaders, are taking over instead of the
care of the earth!
In this world, we
are all related to each other. Disasters in one part affects the whole world.
Irresponsible behavior of leaders in one country affects all. Rightly then did
that young man say that he was concerned about the forest fires in the Amazon.
Each one of us should indeed be concerned.
No comments:
Post a Comment