DeFazio calls on Congress to put pressure on Brazil over wildfires in the Amazon
10 September 2019
Published by https://kval.com/
USA/AMAZON – WASHINGTON, D.C. – An Oregon lawmaker wants Congress to put pressure on the nation of Brazil to combat wildfires burning in the Amazon rainforest.
Rep. Peter DeFazio introduced legislation Tuesday to ban imports of Brazilian commodities linked to deforestation and take other steps to pressure the South American nation.
“President Jair Bolsonaro believes he can act with impunity and accelerate the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, and he needs to know there are real-life consequences for his reckless actions,” DeFazio, a Democrat from Springfield, Oregon, said in a statement.
“I’m angered, but not surprised, that President Trump wholeheartedly supports Bolsonaro’s game of chicken with humanity’s existence. Though thousands of miles away from Oregon, the Amazon serves as the lungs of the earth. Without significant intervention to curtail destruction of the rainforest, it will impact rainfall in the United States, dramatically reduce our crop yields and food supply, and increase the extreme conditions for catastrophic wildfires in the Pacific Northwest.”
House Resolution 4263, dubbed the Act for the Amazon Act, would ban imports of beef, soybeans and other Brazilian commodities “contributing to deforestation,” the congressman’s office said in a statement.
The Act would also freeze aid to Brazil – and prohibit the Trump administration from negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with Brazil.
Advocates for the Amazon praised the idea.
“As long as we purchase commodities from a burning Amazon, we are complicit in the rainforest’s destruction,” said Andrew Miller, advocacy director of Amazon Watch. “Not only must the Brazilian authorities stop the fires, but also the spiking deforestation and imminent threats to indigenous territories. Brazil’s indigenous movement has called for a boycott of products like beef and soy that are catalyzing land invasions and deadly conflicts within their territories. By supporting the Act on the Amazon Act, U.S. voters can stand in solidarity with the urgent indigenous plea to protect the Amazon.”
“We need to protect forests in order to address the climate crisis, but President Bolsonaro’s policies are feeding the destruction of the Brazilian Amazon,” said Jake Schmidt, Managing Director of the International Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “This measure will help deliver the message that Brazil must change course and combat these reckless fires.”
“The Amazon fire crisis represents a planetary emergency that ultimately affects us all and the time for action is now,” said Ginger Cassady, Program Director with Rainforest Action Network. “Global corporations driving this destruction need to be held accountable and this legislation is exactly the kind of support the world needs to be offering the Indigenous people of Brazil, who are facing horrific treatment and displacement from their traditional territories as a result of this human caused disaster.”
