Rich Countries Should Not 'Point Fingers' Over Amazon Fires - Brazil Environment Minister

Rich Countries Should Not 'Point Fingers' Over Amazon Fires - Brazil Environment Minister

Developed nations should not be criticizing Brazil over its response to wildfires in the Amazon region as they got rich by destroying the environment themselves, Brazil's environment minister said in an interview while attending the UN Climate Conference in Madrid, after his government faced criticism throughout the summer from French President Emmanuel Macron

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th December, 2019) Developed nations should not be criticizing Brazil over its response to wildfires in the Amazon region as they got rich by destroying the environment themselves, Brazil's environment minister said in an interview while attending the UN Climate Conference in Madrid, after his government faced criticism throughout the summer from French President Emmanuel Macron.

Ricardo Salles made these comments in an interview with the Sky news broadcaster, in which he slammed the international community for finger pointing, when their own environmental record leaves much to be desired.

"It's not a good thing to point fingers to countries or to say to Brazil that you are doing bad, since other countries were doing bad in the past too," the environment minister said, as quoted by the broadcaster.

Salles's attention then turned to the question of who should fund efforts to extinguish wildfires in the Amazon. He claimed that developing countries were initially responsible for the current climate emergency the world faces, and that they should foot the bill.

"In terms of moral obligation we believe that countries who are rich and are rich because they destroyed the environment and also have destroyed the environment because of the industrial processes, they do have this moral obligation in giving support for developing countries," he added, as quoted by the broadcaster.

Salles is reportedly in Madrid to secure funding for carbon credit and trading schemes, which will help to improve environmental conditions in the country.

"We must understand that poverty is the biggest enemy of environmental measures and preservation," he stated, as quoted by the broadcaster.

The minister's comments on the international community come hot on the heels of sustained criticism of Brazil by French President Emmanuel Macron at this summer's G7 summit. Macron threatened to block the long-awaited EU-Mercosur free trade deal after criticizing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's response to the Amazon wildfires.

At the G7 summit in August, Macron stated that the organization would offer $22 million to fight the wildfires. Brazil rejected this assistance, and Chief of Staff of the Presidency Onyx Lorenzoni quipped that the president could do nothing to prevent large forest fires, when he could not even prevent a fire at the Notre Dame cathedral.

In September, one of Scandinavia's largest investors, Nordea Asset Management, announced it was quarantining Brazilian governmental debt because of economic and environmental risks due to the wildfires.

The fires in the Amazon rain forest in Brazil and neighboring countries gained international attention in August for their scale and destructiveness. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been blamed for encouraging the fires since they free up the land for farming and mining.