YOKOHAMA: Thefires tearing through the Amazon represent a "tipping point" for thehealth of the rainforest, the head of a top global forestry management bodysaid Wednesday, urging the world to do more to save the trees. The situation inthe Amazon is "very urgent," stressed Gerhard Dieterle, executivedirector of the International Tropical Timber Organisation, anintergovernmental agency group that promotes sustainable forestry use.
"This is somethingthat might affect the integrity of the Amazon as a whole, because if the forestfires spread, the grasslands become more prone to forest fires," Dieterletold AFP on the sidelines of a conference on African development. "Manyexperts fear it may be a tipping point" for the rainforest, as the latestfigures show a total of more than 82,000 fires blazing in Brazil, even asmilitary aircraft and troops help battle them.
More than half ofthe fires are in the massive Amazon basin. Some of the blazes are down tonatural causes, Dieterle said, but they are mostly started deliberately byfarmers clearing land for agriculture. "If tropical dense forests areaffected by forest fires, they need many, many years to regroup. It will alterthe climate, the local climate, the national climate and the regional climate.It will also have an influence on the global climate," said the forestryexpert.
Asked about theG7's $20 million pledge to combat the flames, Dieterle said it was "abeginning but much more is needed." "This is the national sovereigntyof Brazil... if they ask for funding, I think the world might be willing toprovide more resources," he said. On Tuesday, a spokesman for PresidentJair Bolsonaro said Brazil would be prepared to accept foreign aid to fight thefires, provided they control the cash.
Earlier, Brazilhad appeared to reject the G7 overtures during a war of words between Bolsonaroand French President Emmanuel Macron, who hosted the meeting of the globalelite. "Mr Macron must withdraw the insults he made against me,"Bolsonaro told reporters in the capital Brasilia on Tuesday. Dieterle made hiscomments on the sidelines of the TICAD conference on African development heldin Yokohama near Tokyo.
Earlier he warneddelegates that "deforestation and forest degradation continue at analarming rate in many African countries." Given the expected rise inAfrican populations from 1.2 billion today to 4.4 billion by the end of thecentury, he also sounded the alarm bell over a lack of wood products forconstruction and cooking. "In the same way we talk about food security, weneed also to talk about 'wood security' and 'water security'. We must focusmore on the role and use of productive forests before it is too late,"Dieterle said. - AFP