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.”
“Bolsonaro is trying to convince the world that he is protecting the Amazon, when in reality he is promoting the dismantlement of the environment.”
—Márcio Astrini, Greenpeace Brazil
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:
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.”
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