Critics of his environmental
agenda warn that "Bolsonaro's policies bring an immediate risk to all
humankind."
Brazilians and environmental
advocates around the world responded with outrage to a speech that
Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro gave Tuesday to the United Nations
General Assembly that included what one reporter described as
"a cantankerous and conspiratorial defense of his environmental
record."
Márcio Astrini, public policy
coordinator at Greenpeace Brazil, declared Tuesday
that "the president's speech about the environment was a scam."
"Bolsonaro is trying to
convince the world that he is protecting the Amazon, when in reality he is
promoting the dismantlement of the environment," Astrini said.
"Under his management, burning, deforestation, and violence have increased
outrageously. For the forest and its people, Bolsonaro is a problem, not the
solution."
Bolsonaro's first speech (pdf) to
the U.N. since he took office in January came amid mounting global criticism
over this past summer's surge in deforestation and corresponding
fires in the Amazon rainforest, the majority of which is located in
Brazil. The ongoing destruction has
provoked worldwide protests and calls for international intervention
from some environmentalists and other world leaders—notably, French
President Emmanuel Macron.
In Bolsonaro's address
delivered in Portuguese Tuesday, the Brazilian leader took aim at foreign
governments, NGOs, and the international media that have sounded the alarm
about the burning of the Amazon.
"First of all, my
government is solemnly committed to environmental preservation and sustainable
development, to the benefit of Brazil and the world," Bolsonaro claimed,
noting that "Brazil is one of the richest countries in the world in terms
of biodiversity and mineral resources."
Bolsonaro continued:
All countries have their
issues. However, the sensationalist attacks we have suffered from much of the
international media due to the Amazon fires have aroused our patriotic
sentiment.
It is a misconception to state
that the Amazon is a world heritage; and it is a misconception, as scientists
attest, to say that our forest is the lung of world. Resorting to these
fallacies, some countries, instead of helping, have followed the lies of the
media and behaved disrespectfully, with a colonialist spirit.
They have questioned what is
most sacred to us: our sovereignty!
The Brazilian president added
that he is "especially grateful" to U.S. President Donald Trump for
respecting Brazil's sovereignty and claimed that "unfortunately, some
people, both inside and outside Brazil, with the support of NGOs, insist on
treating and keeping our natives as cavemen." Bolsonaro promised that his
government "will not increase its already demarcated Indigenous lands to 20
percent, as some heads of state would like to see happen."
As The Guardian reported Tuesday,
"In an attempt to portray himself as a friend of Brazil's Indigenous
communities Bolsonaro
invited a rare indigenous supporter, Ysani Kalapalo, to attend his address and
donned an Indigenous necklace after arriving in New York."
Sônia Guajajara, head of the
Brazilian Indigenous People's Association and one of the country's best-known
Indigenous leaders, criticized Bolsonaro for the stunt.
"This is an attempt to
trick the world and show he has support. But... it is another of his big
lies," Guajajara told The Guardian. "It doesn't matter what
image he wants to project. What matters are his actions—which the world whole
is seeing."
Guajajara addressed Indigenous
Brazilians' broader opposition to Bolsonaro's environmental agenda in an
interview published Tuesday
by The Washington Post.
"He wants to deliver our
land for exploration, and we will never abide by this position," she said.
"The Indigenous movement across the five regions of this country do not
agree with Bolsonaro's politics. We will continue fighting, opposing and making
ourselves foes of this government."
Brazil's former Environmental
Minister Marina Silva, who oversaw a significant reduction in deforestation in
the 2000s, told the Post that "it is unfortunate, worrying, and
very sad to see Brazil, which was once a protagonist in the environmental
agenda, deny the reality of the grave problem of deforestation."
"Only someone completely
deranged and delirious can negate that which the eyes can see," Silva
added.
The Brazilian Climate
Observatory concurred in
a statement Tuesday.
"As expected, Bolsonaro's
speech at the United Nations has doubled down on division, on nationalism and
on ecocide," the observatory said. "The president has once again
embarrassed Brazil abroad by giving up the country's long-standing leadership
on the environment for the sake of ideology."
"Bolsonaro's policies
bring an immediate risk to all humankind," the observatory warned.
"Science warns us that we have until 2030 to cut carbon emissions by 45
percent if we want to have a standing chance of stabilizing global heating at
1.5°C, thus avoiding its worst impacts. Runaway deforestation both in the
cerrado and in Amazonia can, alone, blow the global target."
Reporters highlighted factual
issues with Bolsonaro's 30-minute address and noted that it could have
repercussions for diplomacy. The Guardian's Tom Phillips tweeted,
"Even in their worst nightmares, I'm not sure Brazilian diplomats will
have imagined a Bolsonaro [U.N. General Assembly] speech so arrogant, so
bile-filled, and so truly calamitous for Brazil's place in the world."
As Scottish foreign
correspondent Andrew Downie put it, "Well, speeches to the U.N. don't get
crazier than that."
No comments:
Post a Comment