RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Monday, October 7th, the United Kingdom Parliament began to examine a petition that calls for the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) to impose sanctions on Brazil, as a means to pressure the country to take effective measures to curb the increase in deforestation in the Amazon.
“The Brazilian government, led by Jair Bolsonaro, favors the development of the Amazon rainforest at the expense of its conservation,” the petition said. “Deforestation threatens indigenous populations living in the rainforest, the loss of a precious and complex ecosystem and a vital reserve of carbon that slows global warming,” the document adds. For the petitioners, “the deforestation of the Amazon is of global importance”.
The petitions forum of the British Parliament provides the official response of the local government to the request presented. “The United Kingdom shares concerns about deforestation in the Amazon. The government believes that these issues can be addressed more effectively through dialogue and our bilateral programs,” reports the country’s legislature.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly on September 24th, President Jair Bolsonaro said that the Amazon rainforest “remains virtually untouched” and that, according to him, it is a fallacy to attribute the status of a World Heritage Site to the Amazon.
On the same occasion, President Bolsonaro criticized the imposition of sanctions on Brazil for issues related to the preservation of the rainforest. “One country or another, instead of helping, embarked on the lies of the media and behaved in a disrespectful manner, with a colonialist spirit,” he said at the UN. “A leader present at the G7 meeting questioned our sovereignty and dared to suggest sanctions against Brazil without even listening to us,” he added in his speech.
The statement was understood as a criticism of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, with whom Bolsonaro had a string of clashes and disagreements over the Amazon’s conservation.
Source: Estadão Conteúdo