Pope calls for help with Amazon fires

Monday, August 26th, 2019

Pope Francis is pleading for the international community to work together to put out the fires raging in the Amazon rainforest.

He is voicing the growing international concern about the vast tracts of tropical forest ravaged by blazes in Brazil and neighbouring countries.

A Boeing SuperTanker and six other planes have been deployed to help extinguish the fires. Local people have also been helping firefighters to stop the flames from spreading.

“We came as volunteers to help to control these flames, but they just seem to be taking hold faster,” said a local resident and volunteer firefighter.

“We go to any place and it continues spreading. We need everyone to come and help us because alone we are not enough,” added another volunteer.

Almost 650 new fires started over the weekend according to the Bolivian Forest and Land Authority.

Speaking during Sunday Angelus the Pontiff warned of the far-reaching repercussions:

“Let us pray so that, with the efforts of all, they are controlled as quickly as possible. The lungs of the forests are vital for our planet.”

Experts believe the fires started after Brazil’s populist leader, President Jair Bolsonaro, approved the removal of rainforest protections, allowing for deforestation.

World leader members of the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) meeting in France, have been discussing how to contain the wildfires.

French president Emmanuel Macron has made the Amazon a priority of the summit, declaring it a global emergency. He is threatening to block a trade deal between the EU and the South American common market, Mercosur, until the fires are extinguished.

Ireland says it will join France’s boycott if Bolsonaro doesn’t change his Amazon policy.

The agenda prompted criticism from US President Donald Trump who says Macron is focussing too much on “niche” issues designed to play well with French voters, such as climate change, income and gender equality and African development.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is blocking the Mercosur trade deal over the Amazon fires.

Despite the apparent dissent among the G7 representatives, Macron says a consensus was emerging about how to put out the fires and repair the damage.

The Latin American Bishops are describing the fires as a “tremendous natural tragedy.”

Source