CLICK HERE if you are having a problem viewing the photos or videos on a mobile device
AP reported the Group of Seven nations agreed to immediately pledge $20 million to help countries fight fires in the Amazon rainforest.
The pledge arrived the Monday after Brazil deployed 44,000 troops in “unprecedented” operations to extinguish the fires. So far this year, state experts in Brazil reported nearly 77,000 wildfires, an 85% increase over the same period in 2018. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been criticized for his handling of the crisis. The far-right populist responded by saying rich countries were treating the Amazon region like “a colony,” and implied the G-7 may want something in exchange for its help.
“Look, does anyone help anyone — not including poor people, you know — without something in return? What have they wanted there for so long?” Bolsonaro said to journalists outside the presidential palace.
Critics allege the large number of fires this year has been stoked by Bolsonaro’s encouragement of farmers, loggers and ranchers to speed efforts to strip away forest. Brazil’s federal police agency said over the weekend that it would investigate reports that farmers in Para, a Brazilian state affected by the blazes, organized for “a day of fire” through WhatsApp on Aug. 10. Local news media said the group rallied to show support for Bolsonaro’s efforts to loosen environmental regulations.
For more political cartoons, CLICK HERE
