The G7 promised $20 million in emergency aid on Monday, at its summit in Biarritz, for the deployment of water-bombing planes against the forest fires in the Amazon, French President Emmanuel Macron and Chilean President Sebastian Piñera announced.
The G7 also reached agreement on an initiative to provide medium-term aid for reforestation, which will be finalised at the UN General Assembly in late September. The initiative will require Brazil’s agreement. It will also entail working with NGOs and local populations.
This “Initiative for the Amazon” was announced at the end of a session of the summit devoted to the environment. The situation in the Amazon, which has created strong international concern, was discussed at that session.
Emmanuel Macron has made the Amazon one of the summit’s priorities, calling on Saturday for a mobilisation of all powers to fight against the forest fires and reforest the area.
Calling out Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Macron stressed the need to answer the call of the forest which, he noted, was burning today in the Amazon in a very concrete way.
According to the latest figures, 79,513 forest fires have been detected in Brazil since the start of this year, just over half of them in the Amazon. Under international pressure, Brazil finally went into action on Sunday in the Amazon, sending two C-130 Hercules planes there.
The Brussels Times
