NGO advocates effective forest protection and EU measures on Day of the Tropics.
The threat to the Amazon rainforest does not seem to stop; 907 forest fires broke out in the rainforest between June 1 and 15, Greenpeace warns in a statement on Monday’s International Tropical Day today. This is an increase of 38.8 percent compared to the same period last year.
While Brazil is currently struggling with the Covid 19 pandemic, the Amazon rainforest is being cut down, destroyed and economically exploited for raw materials – fires and clear cuts in turn cause large forest fires to break out and spread quickly. Since the EU is an important importer of raw materials from Brazil, Greenpeace demands that the EU Commission should use a new legal framework to ensure that no products from Amazon destruction get into the EU.
The dry season is approaching
“The current rainforest fires are just the beginning. The Amazon will be dry for the next few weeks and months. At the same time, the Brazilian government under Jair Bolsonaro is pushing ahead with an economy-driven anti-environmental policy – these are the perfect conditions for ranchers and land robbers to set fire to and destroy the rainforest, ”explains Lukas Meus, forest expert at Greenpeace in Austria.
The current fires are a sad record: Since 2009 there have not been as many fires in this period as there are currently. The data was determined by the National Institute for Space Research INPE using a thermal satellite. This identifies so-called hotspots – areas that can be identified as fires due to extremely high temperatures. Much of the fire is started by people who use the land for economic purposes – such as cattle farms. “It can be assumed that the fires in the Amazon rainforest will probably rage even more violently this year than last year,” said Meus.
EU Commission wants to take responsibility for forests
In its biodiversity strategy, the EU Commission announced that it would present a legal framework in 2021 with which it intends to take responsibility for global forests. Greenpeace demands from the EU a new, strong EU forest law, which forbids the import of raw materials from rainforest destruction. The EU imports beef and soy from Brazil, for example. “The Amazon rainforest goes up in flames for economic purposes. The EU shares responsibility if it continues to import raw materials and products from rainforest destruction,” says Meus.
(WHAT / AFP / dpa)
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