The Burning of the Amazon

Nelson Mandela once said:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”

This year, the theme of the Season of Creation will be ‘The Web of Life,’ which was chosen as a gesture of solidarity with the Synod on the Amazon

Our House is burning: President Macron (France))

• Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil originally blamed NGOS for starting the fires as a direct consequence of a reduction in their funding.
• What will be the effect on the indigenous populations of this burning and what can you do as a Christian? More here
• The Brazilian President came under huge pressure to intervene in this manmade disaster in particular as a steward of the rain forest which is belong to the world at large.
• There are nearly 73,000 fires in Brazil between (January and August) this year - the highest since records began in 2013 and a more than 80 percent bump on the figure for the same period last year. Most of them were in the Amazon.
• The land is being cleared for mining and for agriculture.
• The G7 met in Biarratz this week and the Amazonian forest fires were on the agenda and upwards of $22 million wasp promised to combat the fires. This money will not be accepted by Bolsanaro who claims that the money will be sent to influence.
• Bolivia and other countries close by are also suffering and they can draw down the money equally.
• Brazilian embassies around the world have come under pressure at the disbelief around the attitude of the Brazilian President to the firing of the Amazon forest.
• The Irish Taoiseach was one the first world leaders to fire a shot across the bough of the Brazilian President when he said that Ireland would not ratify the Mercosur Trade Deal . He was quickly followed by France.
• The French President has called for the reafforestation of the Amazon but this will not go down well with Ranchers and Farmers alike.
• Forest fires are an annual phenomenon and are part of the natural regeneration of the forest but what is happening in Brazil is managed and deliberate as has been promised by Bolsanaro,
• Bolsanaro has been strong armed into committing resources (the army and the fire staff) to tackle what is by now clearly out of hand.
• But environmentalists and non-governmental organisations have attributed the record number of fires to farmers setting the forest alight to clear land for pasture and to loggers razing the forest for its wood ruling out natural phenomena being responsible for the surge.
• Bolsonaro's weakening of Brazil's environmental agency, IBAMA, and push to open up the Amazon region for more farming and mining has emboldened such actors and created a climate of impunity for those felling the forest illegally.

So why does the Amazon Matter?

The Amazon is the largest tropical forest in the world, covering more than five million square kilometres across nine countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.

It acts as an enormous carbon sink, storing up to an estimated 100 years worth of carbon emissions produced by humans, and is seen as vital to slowing the pace of global warming.

"The Amazon is the most significant climate stabiliser we have," Poirier said.

Put simply, he added, preserving the forest is of "critical importance" for both the region it encompasses and the rest of the world.

But in the last half-century alone, nearly 20 percent of the forest has disappeared.

Scientists have warned that if tree loss in the Amazon were to pass a certain "tipping point", somewhere between 25 and 40 percent, deforestation could start to feed on itself and lead to the demise of the forest within a matter of decades.

"One of the cornerstones of climatic stability on our planet is in peril and the consequences of this are almost too large to fathom," Poirier said. "The future of our civilisation depends on its integrity."

Who (and what) calls the Amazon home?

The Amazon has been inhabited by humans for at least 11,000 years and is home to more than 30 million people - about two-thirds of whom live in cities carved out of the greenery.

Among those living in the region are about one million indigenous people who are divided into some 400 tribes, according to indigenous rights group Survival International.

Most live in villages, though some remain nomadic, with each tribe possessing its distinct language and culture, both of which are traditionally intimately intertwined with the surrounding environment.

Jonathan Mazower, a spokesman for Survival International, said the tribes were "dependent on their forests for everything, and have managed and looked after them for millennia".

Many are seeing their lands burned in front of their eyes, and with it their livelihood, source of food, medicines, and their very homes," he added.

Indigenous people are on the front line of this struggle - the work they do to protect the forest is so vital and their connection to the forest is so important to their culture.

"The potential is here for not just environmental devastation, but also cultural genocide."

In addition to the human presence within the Amazon, the forest also houses 10 percent of all known wildlife species, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), with a "new" species of animal or plant discovered in the rainforest every three days on average.

Canada has also pledged an additional $11m and the UK $12m.

Reacting to the pledges, Bolsonaro said the idea of creating an international alliance to save the Amazon is an attack on the country's sovereignty.

Norway and Germany earlier this month halted millions of dollars of Amazon protection subsidies to the Amazon Fund, accusing Brazil of turning its back on the fight against deforestation.

Meanwhile, social media users around the world have latched on to #PrayForAmazonia and #PrayForAmazon, pushing the topic towards the top of Twitter's global trends earlier this week.

Public demonstrations also took place in several major Brazilian cities over the weekend, mirroring protests held elsewhere around the world.

"The outpouring of concern, grief and anger is unprecedented - what this is creating is a lasting impression for people that the Amazon is absolutely essential to our future and we all have a responsibility to protect it, contrary to what Bolsonaro may say," Poirier said.

"But we can't allow ourselves to fall into despair, there's no other way, we have to act - we have a responsibility to ourselves, to future generations and to other beings on this planet, are of which are suffering today as a result of this chaos."

A very intuitive article has been written here. I have also posted this on the Facebook page.

Editorial: EU leaders have soot on their hands from Amazon ashes as printed in the Irish Farmers Journal here