Month: August 2019

Myanmar: Elephant skin for pearls and quack medicine

 

Grunge Brush Stroke With National Flag Of Myanmar Isolated On A White Background. Vector Illustration.

 

Elephants are among the endangered species in Myanmar. The government in Myanmar estimates that there are currently only about 2,000 wild elephants in Myanmar’s jungle.
Already a few years ago the (www.Netzfrauen.org) reported on the terrible trade in Asian elephant skins – for jewelry and traditional medicine. The skin of the elephants is painstakingly removed and sold for traditional Chinese healing methods. New research has now revealed that illegal trade has spread throughout Southeast Asia. The skin of elephants is burned in a clay pot and the ash is mixed with coconut oil. This cream is supposed to help against eczema

According to the new Elephant Family” Report, the burgeoning Myanmar industry seems to have spread to a greater part of Southeast Asia, including not just China, but also Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. The pearls are sold in Myanmar and China and skin products for traditional healing methods in all five countries.

FW: Feature article.2.jpeg

The previous report of the Elephant Family”, published in April 2018, showed that at least initially one person seemed to be behind the pearl trade.
This trader, whom they called “Jaz,” posted about pearls in an online discussion forum in 2014.
“Twenty-three follow-up responses showed that trade in elephant skin pearls was new and poorly understood,” the report said.
The elephant beads are made in the style of traditional Chinese collectibles known as Wenwan. Who exactly wants them, is unknown.

According to the report, some traders said their elephant skins came from captive elephant populations in the area, not from Myanmar’s dense jungle.
Managers of a family-run traditional medicine business said their skins came from “zoos.”
Another trader said his skins came from captive elephant populations in China.

Elefantenn Haut enthäutender ElephantFeb. 16, 2018, photo provided by conservation group “Elephant Family”

 

The subcutaneous fat of freshly slaughtered elephants is transformed into ruby red pearls

The strong smell is the only thing that prevents men and women from converting the subcutaneous fat of freshly slaughtered elephants into ruby-red pearls. It is harmful. The vapors are grueling because the workers in China have to harden the fat for hours, then polish the translucent fat pearls that often do not maintain their shape.
A trader told investigators at Elephant Family, a London-based conservation group, that it took him a full day to make a pearl. There was also another problem: the fat beads were not very durable when in contact with human skin.

Elefanten-PerlenThe Chinese saying Wenwan (文 transl) literally means “toy of culture” – illegal wild lifetrade.net

And yet this trade is booming, as can be read on elephant-family.org.

“This trade is continuing, increasing and spreading geographically. It’s scary, “says Dave Augeri, biologist and director of nature conservation at Elephant Family”.

Elephant populations are sinking dramatically and poaching has increased tenfold in recent years, the government in Myanmar announced after demand for ivory and elephant skin has risen.

Elfenbein

Increasingly slaughtered elephants are found whose skin has been stripped off, which is used for traditional medicine or for jewelry. Part of it is sold on local markets, but the vast majority goes to neighboring China, which has an inexhaustible taste for exotic animals, the government said.

The skin of elephants has become the latest fad of traditional remedies in China. In the shops, the skin is sold as devotees (the devotees). There is almost everything, whether as skin or pieces of ivory. In addition, tiger teeth come with bear oil.

elephanten Zahn

Not only is the skin brutally peeled off by elephants and sold, but their habitats also disappear.
Myanmar lost nearly 20 percent of its forests between 1990 and 2010. Since Myanmar’s military rule ended in 1962, the country has become attractive to foreign corporations.

As in other countries, Myanmar has also been discovered for the cultivation of palm oil. Other countries like Thailand use the land in Myanmar for agriculture. Likewise, mining companies have opened the hunt for raw materials.

skinforsale. elephantenjpg

Even before Myanmar opened its borders in 2011, elephants were smuggled into neighboring countries for tourism.
Already in 2008, the illegal trade in Thailand and China was revealed. There are found 9000 pieces of ivory and 16 whole tusks that were offered for sale. On a total of 14 markets and three border markets in Thailand and China, one was looking for.
By 2008, in just a few years, there were about 250 live Asian elephants smuggled out of Myanmar. But now these cruel deeds are so frightening that even the government in Myanmar no longer wants to stand idly by.

https://netzfrauen.org/2019/08/16/myanmar-

 

My comment:The earth has a skin; and this skin has diseases. One of these diseases is called “human,” said Nitzsche.
It is not the eczema the disease, that some people need to heal, but their sick brains, who believe in the charlatanry of the Chinese and thus massacre thousands of loving and peaceful animals.

 

Best regards to all, Venus

EU; 2 Important Petitions – Please Sign and Share.

eu-flagge-zerrissen-pg

 

PLEASE SIGN, CIRCULATE AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE, ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, SOCIAL MEDIA ETC. AND SHARE

 

Subject: Amazon – EU trade deal with the Americas (Sum of Us petition)

Dear friends –

  • The EU is about to sign a trade deal that could destroy what’s left of

the Amazon rainforest. We can stop this from happening:

 

https://actions.sumofus.org/a/save-the-amazon-stop-the-disastrous-mercosur-trade-deal?sp_ref=509051851.99.198755.e.0.2&referring_akid=60583.1152464.HBxuyj&referring_source=fwd&source=mlt

 

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Jean-Claude Juncker

AND

  • EU set to overturn ban on baby African elephants being caught and sent to foreign zoos for a life of torture and Hell!

Threatened giraffes are however, given protection from unregulated trade for first time ever

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/baby-elephants-eu-ban-giraffe-africa-zoos-zimbabwe-china-trade-a9074861.html

 

Spain: The Asshole Gets A New Second One !

spanische flagge mit Stier

As Ricky says – the asshole gets a new asshole !

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7389473/Gold-clad-Spanish-bullfighter-gored-groin-Basque-culture-celebration.html?ito=social-twitter_mailonline

 

Gold-clad Spanish bullfighter gets his deserved justice as he is gored in the groin during Basque culture celebration

  • The painful moment a Spanish bullfighter was gored in the groin was captured in a series of grueling images
  • Paco Urena was tussling with the animal as part of the Semana Grande fair in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain
  • A photographer captured the moment a bull lunged its horn between his legs at the Vista Alegre bullring
  • Mr Urena had also been pictured smiling as he held two bull’s ears as trophies as part of Semana Grande
  • The celebration of Basque culture sees thousands of festival-goers descend into northern Spain’s streets

asshole 1

Brazil: Worldwide Protests Against Amazon Destruction. Contact Your Brazilian Embassy to Protest.

Brazil burning

nutter brazil 2

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/23/brazil-protests-amazon-bolsonaro-failure-protect

Protesters have laid siege to Brazilian embassies around the world as international outrage over Jair Bolsonaro’s failure to protect the Amazon intensified and supporters maligned critics of the Brazilian president as leftist conspirators.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside Brazil’s embassy in central London on Friday with placards reading: “The planet deserves better” and “Our house is on fire”.

“Bolsonaro wants to destroy the forest … and we do not want this,” one indigenous leader from Brazil told the crowd.

There were also rallies outside Brazil’s embassies in Mexico City and Paris, where demonstrators reportedly carried banners reading: “Fora Bolsonaro!” or “Bolsonaro, out!”

Protesters also surrounded the Brazilian consulate in Geneva while further marches were planned in cities including Adelaide, Lisbon, Stockholm, Boston and Florida.

Brazil’s far-right president has rejected the international outcry over the fires raging in the Amazon and his stance on the environment.

Bolsonaro on Thursday painted the barrage of criticism as part of a foreign conspiracy that might eventually be used to justify a foreign “intervention” in the Amazon.

“This happens all over the world, it’s not just in Brazil,” he said of the fires decimating the world’s largest tropical rainforest.

Bolsonaro’s politician son, Eduardo, claimed criticism of his father was part of an international intrigue designed to damage his government.

nutter brazil

 

“The GLOBAL left has come together in a clear attack against president Jair Bolsonaro,” he tweeted.

Rômulo Batista, a Greenpeace campaigner in the Amazon, said such claims – and Bolsonaro’s baseless insinuation that NGOs were behind the fires – were merely an attempt to deflect from Bolsonaro’s own responsibility for the environment calamity. “He is trying to hide behind a smokescreen,” Batista said.

In Brazil, demonstrators were preparing to mobilize for a weekend of protests in cities including Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Curitiba, Recife and the Amazon city of Manaus.

“Almost everyone I know will go,” said Frederico Svoboda, 18, a history student from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

“I believe that if there is not international pressure to force the government to deal with the fires and guarantee the protection of biodiversity and indigenous peoples there could be climate disasters in Brazil and maybe South America.”

People around the world should “pressure the Brazilian government to act”, Svoboda added.

Anna Mello, a 24-year-old biologist, said she would march in the north-eastern city of Recife.

“For me this is surreal, I can’t believe it is happening. It is absurd that … people can support this as if it were totally normal rather than a crime and something that might affect the whole of humanity.”

Writing in the O Globo newspaper, the columnist Bernando Mello Franco said that thanks to Bolsonaro, “Brazil is on track to go back to being seen as an environmental pariah”.

 

If you wish to contact your local Brazilian embassy, then please use the following link:

https://www.embassy-worldwide.com/country/brazil/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diplomatic_missions_of_Brazil

 

LONDON:

Address: 14-16 Cockspur St, St. James’s, London SW1Y 5BL

Hours:

Closed ⋅ Opens 9AM Mon

Saturday Closed
Sunday Closed
Monday

(Summer Bank Holiday)

9am–6pm

Hours might differ

Tuesday 9am–6pm
Wednesday 9am–6pm
Thursday 9am–6pm
Friday 9am–6pm

 

Phone: 020 7747 4500

Do we love animals more than humans?

 

by Helmut Kaplan, Austrian animal ethicist and author

Gorilla und sein chützer_n

Generously, one is ready to reproach “animal friends” with so much “craziness” – just BECAUSE they are “animal friends” and thus at least slightly crazy: that they spend too much time on animals, that they love animals too much (“dog fool”, Cats fool “, etc.) and much more.
In a reproach, however, any understanding finds a sudden end: “They love the animals more than the people!” As soon as this capital crime is first suspected, one has immediately squandered all credit and sympathy! Why?

1) Anyone who assumes as a matter of course that one must value people more than animals, answers prematurely a question that should be reasonably first asked and discussed: WHY should people be more valuable in any case?

2) The demand for people to love people more than animals can also be seen as an invitation to a very bad habit: as an invitation to partiality.
By partiality is meant a bias against “strangers”. This is basically a classic ANTI ethics approach -because ethics is just about questioning and overcoming partisanship.

schönes Bild mit weisser katze und Welpe

3) After the experience, we know that many animals are morally superior to many people, at least not morally inferior: The mere human moral ability, that means the ability to distinguish and decide between good and evil, is still no merit.
Somebody deserves that only when he positively USE this ability, that is, actually decides for the good.
On the other hand, the ability to moralize creates the danger of morally failing, that is, of deciding to do evil.

Arschlöcher mit hängendem Schweinjpg

Moral ability does not mean moral superiority automatically, but involves the danger of becoming morally inferior – inferior to those who are not capable of morality. (If and to what extent certain animals are capable of morality, we will not discuss in this context.)

Kleines Kind mit grossem Hund_n

4) Who does not close his eyes, ears, brain and heart, to how horribly people treat animals, this one must love the animals more than the people who tyrannize, torture and kill these innocent animals!

https://tierrechte-kaplan.de/sie-lieben-die-tiere-ja-mehr-als-die-menschen/

 

My best regards to all, Venus

Dating among psychopaths

 

deutsche Flagge mit Bananen jpg

 

Hunting, fun, enjoyment and new contacts in a hunt for singles in Saxony-Anhalt from 25.-27. October 2019

 

Dear hunters men and hunters women,

Do you want to spend a great weekend under the hunter singles? The ” love hunt” organizes together with Forest office Eibenstein a hunting experience of a special kind for hunters men and hunters women who are looking for a partner.

 

liebe-jagd-png

A fun speed dating ensures that you can get a sniff on the first evening 🙂

Date: October 25th to 27th, 2019

Number of participants: The number of participants is limited to 30 people. That it can max. 15 hunters and 15 hunters participate.

Prerequisites and instructions:

You have a valid hunting license and are single between the ages of 25 and 55.
In addition to the valid hunting license, you are also in possession of a firearms card, on which the hunting weapon is registered. In addition, an orange hat band and a safety vest must be worn while hunting (can be provided).

In addition to these points, we also ask you to think of weather-related clothing for the driven hunt.

If you would like to participate in the event, please write an email to veranstaltung@liebejagd.de and introduce yourself shortly.

A photo of you would be great too! We also need that for speed dating 🙂

Registration deadline: 30.08.2019

After the registration deadline, we reserve the right to select the participants on the basis of age and gender and, if necessary, to trigger them. The confirmation of participation you get from Forest Office Eibenstein by email.

Terms of payment: With the registration confirmation you will receive our bank account. Payment of the total amount must be made within 8 days. Participation is only possible after full payment.

The general terms and conditions of Forest Office Eibenstein apply. You can download the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy of Forest Office Eibenstein here.

Total prices including all mentioned services (additional value tax):

in a single room € 594, – per person
in a double room € 554, – per person
The total price includes the following services:

2 nights incl. Half-board (3-course dinner in the evening)
Organization and processing fees
Sparkling win the start of the SpeedDating
speed dating
Drivers, dogs and dog dealers
Killings of: red deer (calves, small animals, old animals – no lead animals, pikes)
Wild boar (boobies, brooks, boar)
Deer wild (fawn, narrow deer, doe)
Robbery wild (Fox, raccoon dog, raccoon, mink)

Lots of fun, fresh air with luck and new contacts!
We look forward to seeing you

Single-Druckjagd_LiebeJagd-2019the photo belongs to Speed dating advertisement

 

http://liebejagd.de/index.php

My comment: I am sure that my post will arouse great interest among our readers.
If you want to contact them, it is advisable to do this in German, as hunters are not the smartest and can hardly speak their native language, let alone English.
Then I like to help

frech emoticon zunge raus pg

Best regards to all, Venus

 

Jair Bolsonaro and the arsonists!

 

Brasil pg

 

Bolso oh Bolso !!! Sure, it was the animal rights activists !!
Nero also accused the Christians of setting fire to Rome !!!

The evidence can not be denied: in fact, it’s his clients, the Grand Latifundistas, the Agrarian Lobby and the Mineros who put the fire unpunished – knowing that they have nothing to fear. From whom? Bolsonaro, the psychotic, the arm of the great Brazilian livestock.

He gives them the free hand to acquire rainforest areas where it will soon no longer rain.
They blow up huge areas, murder the Indígenas, then bribe a regional politician and get the stamp on the certificate that the ashes are now their property.

He puts his election pledge into action, and gives the soybean farmers and cattle breeders fire-free to clear new land. The first firefighting aircraft to emerge there would therefore be the immediate victim of Brazilian interceptors.
The constitutional state in Brazil was abolished personally by Jair Maníaco. These are facts!

The whole thing is called “Rainforest”. The forest generates its own climate. If the rainforest disappears or falls below a limit, there is less rainfall and the system of a tropical rainforest collapses. If that happens, in the agricultural land won will no longer get any rain. The farmers can then pack in general. The soil is fertile only for a short time anyway and in the end, even the rain is missing. If the rain is missing then no reforestation will work. But environmental protection interests them as little as human rights.

The lackeys of Bolsonaro want to create a pasture that is fertile for three years and then becomes a desert. Idiots economy is called it.

But now to the EU: EU must immediately terminate the contract. With environmental criminals one should close no agreements.

Europe imports a lot of soybeans to feed high-yielding cows so they can produce enough milk to not only feed Europeans, but also to export cheaply (subsidized) to China and Africa, with which e.g. the dairy farmers in Africa have no more merit and start out as migrants to Europe.
And that’s been going on for tens of years.
No hope this will change as long as we have EU.
The Bolsonaro policy is without a doubt criminal but the cause of all evil is the EU and that it is contaminated with lobby.

Best regards to all, Venus

 

Brazil – More Amazon. A ‘Nero’ President.

Image result for brazil flag burning

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/macron-amazon-forest-fires-veto-mercosur-eu-trade-deal-brazil-a9076181.html

France will block an EU trade deal with Brazil and its neighbours over the country’s handling of fires in the Amazon rainforest, a spokesperson for Emmanuel Macron has said.

Image result for jair bolsonaro cartoon amazon burns

Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has been criticised around the world for his response to the fires, which scientists say are man-made and campaigners have linked to businesses looking to exploit the land.

“The president can only conclude President Bolsonaro lied to him at the Osaka summit,” a spokesperson for the Elysee told the Reuters news agency.

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/amazon-rainforest-fires-bolsonaro-blames-charities-for-worst-ever-blazes-z8c0tkt7h

Wildfires raging in the Amazon rainforest are an international crisis that must be tackled by the world’s richest nations, President Macron has declared.

The French leader said that the record number of fires that have broken out this month, ravaging forests in Brazil and neighbouring countries, must be top of the agenda at this weekend’s G7 summit in Biarritz.

His remarks drew a sharp response from President Bolsonaro of Brazil, who blames environmental groups for the surge in wildfires as he tries to deflect international criticism

Related image

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/23/amazon-rainforest-fires-deforestation-jair-bolsonaro

The rainforest might seem a remote place, but it is the heart of the planet – and it is under attack as never before

The Amazon is the centre of the world. Right now, as our planet experiences climate collapse, there is nowhere more important. If we don’t grasp this, there is no way to meet that challenge.

For 500 years, this has been a place of ruins. First with the European invasion, which brought a particularly destructive form of civilisation, the death of hundreds of thousands of indigenous men and women and the extinction of dozens of peoples. More recently, with the clearance of vast swaths of the forest and all life within it. Right now, in 2019, we are witnessing the beginning of a new, disastrous chapter. The area of trees being cleared has surged this year. In July, the deforestation rate was an area the size of Manhattan every day, a Greater London every three weeks. This month, fires are incinerating the Amazon at a record rate, almost certainly part of a scorched-earth strategy to clear territory. Why is this happening now? Because of a change in power.

A predatory form of politics called Bolsonarism has assumed nearly total, and totalitarian, power in BrazilA predatory form of politics called Bolsonarism has assumed nearly total, and totalitarian, power in Brazil. President Jair Bolsonaro’s chief project is to create more ruins in the Amazon forest, methodically and swiftly. This is why, for the first time since Brazil became a democracy again, it effectively has a minister against the environment.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/23/amazon-fires-what-is-happening-anything-we-can-do

What is happening in the Amazon?

Thousands of fires are burning in Brazil, many of them in the world’s biggest rainforest, which is sending clouds of smoke across the region and pumping alarming quantities of carbon into the world’s atmosphere.

Does this happen every year?

Yes, but some areas have suffered far more than usual. In the worst-affected Brazilian state of Amazonas, the peak day this month was 700% higher than the average for the same date over the past 15 years. In other states, the amount of ash and other particulates in August has hit the highest level since 2010.

Image result for jair bolsonaro cartoon amazon burns

What is the cause?

Most of the fires are agricultural, either smallholders burning stubble after harvest, or farmers clearing forest for cropland. Illegal land-grabbers also destroy trees so they can raise the value of the property they seize. But they are man-made and mostly deliberate.

Unlike the huge recent blazes in Siberia and Alaska, the Amazon fires are very unlikely to have been caused by lightning.

Is the entire forest ablaze?

No. Satellite monitoring experts say the images of an entire forest ablaze are exaggerated. A great deal of misinformation has been spread by social media, including the use of striking images from previous years’ burning seasons. This week, there are more large fires in Colombia and eastern Brazil than in the Amazon. Most of the agricultural burn-offs are in deforested areas. But there are also fires in protected reserves.

So should we still be concerned?

Extremely. The fires are mostly illegal and they are degrading the world’s biggest terrestrial carbon sink and most important home for biodiversity. They also contribute to a more important trend, which is an alarming rise in deforestation. Scientists say the Amazon is approaching a tipping point, after which it will irreversibly degrade into a dry savannah. At a time when the world needs billions more trees to absorb carbon and stabilise the climate, the planet is losing its biggest forest.

How much forest is being lost?

In July, deforestation spiked to a level not seen in more than a decade. According to preliminary satellite data from Brazil’s space agency trees were being cleared at the rate of five football pitches every minute. Over the single month, ,2,254 sq km (870 sq miles) were lost, a rise of 278% on the same month last year. Scientists say this year could be the first for 10 years in which 10,000 sq km of Amazon are lost.

Image result for amazon on fireImage result for Mr Bolsonaro

Is this the fault of the Brazilian president?

Jair Bolsonaro has made things a lot worse by weakening the environment agency, attacking conservation NGOs and promoting the opening of the Amazon to mining, farming and logging. The far-right leader has dismissed satellite data on deforestation and fired the head of the space agency. But it is not solely his fault. The agricultural lobby is powerful in Brazil and it has steadily eroded the protection system that was so successful from 2005-2014. Deforestation crept up in the past five years under the previous presidents Dilma Rousseff and Michel Temer. But the rate has accelerated rapidly in the first eight months of Bolsonaro’s rule.

What is the outside world doing?

The UN secretary general and many world leaders and celebrities have expressed concern. The Amazon will be high on the agenda for G7 leaders at a summit in France this weekend. They are likely to make a strong statement condemning the recent increase in deforestation and urge Brazil to restore the Amazon protections that previously made the country a global environmental leader.

Is that enough?

No. The priority should be building a buffer against the tipping point and drawing down emissions, which means not just protection of the Amazon but massive reforestation. This will require far more financial support than anything seen until now. For this to be effective, governments will also need to align their environment and trade policies. Currently countries like the UK spend small sums on overseas conservation, then promote billions of dollars worth of trade in beef, soy, timber, minerals and other products that undermine Amazon protection efforts. Politicians should also listen more to the voices of the people who live in the forest, such as indigenous groups and riverine communities.

 

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Indigenous people from the Mura tribe show a deforested area in unmarked indigenous lands in Amazonas state. Photograph: Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters

What can individuals do?

Sign up to the Green Light email to get the planet’s most important stories

Read more

The most important actions are political and collective. Join a party or campaign group that makes the Amazon a priority. Through these groups, urge your elected representatives to block trade deals with countries that destroy their forests and to provide more support for countries that expand tree cover.

Apart from this, donate to organisations that support the forest, forest dwellers and biodiversity, including Instituto Socioambiental, Amazon Watch, WWF, Greenpeace, Imazon, International Rivers and Friends of the Earth.

As consumers, think twice before buying Brazilian beef or other products unless certified by groups such as Rainforest Alliance. The Amazon connection is not always obvious.

As the crisis escalates…

… in our natural world, we refuse to turn away from the climate catastrophe and species extinction. For The Guardian, reporting on the environment is a priority. We give reporting on climate, nature and pollution the prominence it deserves, stories which often go unreported by others in the media. At this pivotal time for our species and our planet, we are determined to inform readers about threats, consequences and solutions based on scientific facts, not political prejudice or business interests.

Brazil: The World Tells Them – Our House Is Burning. Brazilian President Shrugs Off Concerns; Even Suggesting NGO Started Fires !

brasilien

 

Image result for amazon on fire

Image result for amazon on fire

 

See also https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2019/08/21/brazil-there-is-war-in-amazonas/

 

This site is primarily an animal rights / welfare site. But we also attempt to cover environmental issues when we feel there is need. Now is major need time for the Amazon.

https://mailchi.mp/amazonfrontlines/brazil?e=84705a74b2

The Amazon rainforest is on fire. Millions of acres of indigenous territory across Brazil are burning, releasing enormous amounts of stored carbon into the atmosphere. This is what the climate crisis looks like: Our planet’s largest and most important rainforest going up in smoke.

Amazon Frontlines has joined forces with our indigenous allies in Brazil and is raising funds for the Indigenous Confederation of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB). All funds raised will support the frontline brigades now fighting these fires, and help them build political and technical capacity to continue protecting the forest in the future.

The fires now raging across the Amazon are not natural. They are part of a political crisis in which the governments of the region, most notably that of Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, has enabled the wanton destruction of formerly protected areas, including hundreds of indigneous lands. For years, indigenous groups in Brazil have been trying to warn the world that they cannot hold off the devastation alone. Too often, their voices have been silenced, just as the Amazon is being silenced now.

Let’s turn this disaster into hope, lets change this into action, and let’s work towards the future together. Let’s pray for the Amazon, but also fight for it.

Donate to the Amazon fund – https://www.amazonfrontlines.org/donate/brazil/

 

Image result for amazon on fire

Amazon fires: ‘Our house is burning’, Macron warns ahead of G7

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-49443389

French President Emmanuel Macron has said the record number of fires in the Amazon rainforest is an “international crisis” that needs to top the agenda at this weekend’s G7 summit.

“Our house is burning,” he tweeted.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro responded by accusing Mr Macron of using the issue for “political gain”.

He said calls to discuss the fires at the G7 summit in Biarritz, which Brazil is not participating in, evoke “a misplaced colonialist mindset”.

The largest rainforest in the world, the Amazon is a vital carbon store that slows down the pace of global warming.

Satellite data published by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) has shown an increase of 85% this year in fires across Brazil, most of them in the Amazon region.

Conservationists have blamed Mr Bolsonaro’s government for the Amazon’s plight, saying that he has encouraged loggers and farmers to clear the land.

Mr Bolsonaro has suggested that non-governmental organisations started the fires, but admitted he had no evidence for this claim. In comments on Thursday, he acknowledged that farmers might be involved in setting fires in the region, according to Reuters news agency.

Environmental groups have called for protests in cities across Brazil on Friday to demand action to combat the fires.

Mr Bolsonaro responded by accusing the French president of using a Brazilian domestic issue for “personal political gain”.

He said he was open to dialogue about the fires if it was “based on objective data and mutual respect”, but hit out at the calls for it to be discussed at the G7 summit.

“The French president’s suggestion that Amazonian issues be discussed at the G7 without the participation of the countries of the region evokes a misplaced colonialist mindset, which does not belong in the 21st century,” he wrote on social media.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also said he is “deeply concerned” about the fires in the Amazon.

“In the midst of the global climate crisis, we cannot afford more damage to a major source of oxygen and biodiversity. The Amazon must be protected,” he tweeted.

Image result for amazon on fire
Image result for amazon on fire

A new level of dismissal

Analysis by Daniel Gallas, BBC News, Sao Paulo

Brazilian presidents shrugging off international concern about the Amazon is nothing new.

Others before Mr Bolsonaro have dismissed international NGOs and European leaders as foreign meddlers into national affairs.

But Mr Bolsonaro has taken this to a new level by suggesting NGOs may be responsible for encouraging wildfires to sabotage him.

Image result for amazon on fire

His words may shock some international audiences, but they ring true to his supporters at home, where he remains a popular leader.

Surprisingly the one reproving voice that could influence this debate is that of Brazilian farmers.

One would think that they would support policies to promote more farming in the Amazon. But some agricultural leaders fear Mr Bolsonaro’s poor handling of Brazil’s image abroad could hurt exports of soybeans and beef.

Some farmers have already urged a change of tone from the government. These are voices the president may be open to hearing.

How has Bolsonaro reacted to the fires?

Image result for Mr Bolsonaro

Mr Bolsonaro has said that the country is not equipped to fight the fires. “The Amazon is bigger than Europe, how will you fight criminal fires in such an area?,” he asked reporters as he left the presidential residence on Thursday. “We do not have the resources for that.”

The president has suggested that NGOs may have started fires as revenge for his government slashing their funding.

Asked on Thursday who was responsible, he said: “The Indians, do you want me to blame the Indians? Do you want me to blame the Martians?… Everyone is a suspect, but the biggest suspects are NGOs.”

When asked if there was any proof of this, he replied: “Did I accuse NGOs directly? I just said I suspect them.”

Mr Bolsonaro has further angered those concerned over the spike in fires by brushing off the data.

He argued that it was the season of the “queimada”, when farmers burn land to clear it before planting. However, Inpe has noted that the number of fires is not in line with those normally reported during the dry season.

It is not the first time that Mr Bolsonaro has cast doubt on figures suggesting that the Amazon is deteriorating rapidly.

Last month, he accused Inpe’s director of lying about the scale of deforestation there. It came after Inpe published data showing an 88% increase in deforestation in the Amazon in June compared with the same month a year ago.

The director of the agency later announced that he was being sacked amid the row.

 

Chart showing the number of fires in Brazil each year

 

Why is he being criticised?

Climate activists and conservationists have been scathing about the Bolsonaro government and its policies, which favour development over conservation.

They say that since President Bolsonaro took office, the Amazon rainforest has suffered losses at an accelerated rate.

Their anger was further fuelled by satellite data showing a steep rise in fires in the Amazon region this year.

The figures suggest there have been more than 75,000 fires so far this year for the whole of Brazil, compared with just over 40,000 over the same period in 2018.

Image result for amazon on fire

The figures and satellite images showing most of the state of Roraima, in northern Brazil, covered by smoke have shocked many Brazilians and triggered a global Twitter trend under the hashtag #prayforamazonia

As well as a fifth of the world’s oxygen, the region also produces about 20% of the world’s fresh water, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The Amazon is also home to about three million species of plants and animals, and one million indigenous people.

What causes the fires?

Wildfires often occur in the dry season in Brazil but they are also deliberately started in efforts to illegally deforest land for cattle ranching.

“The dry season creates the favourable conditions for the use and spread of fire, but starting a fire is the work of humans, either deliberately or by accident,” Inpe researcher Alberto Setzer told Reuters news agency.

Ricardo Mello, head of the WWF Amazon Programme, said the fires were “a consequence of the increase in deforestation seen in recent figures.

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Image result for amazon rainforest