- Title: Canada says it will send water bombers to help fight Amazon fires
- Date: 26th August 2019
- Summary: BIARRITZ, FRANCE (AUGUST 26, 2019) (AGENCY POOL) CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER, JUSTIN TRUDEAU, SPEAKING AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER, JUSTIN TRUDEAU, SAYING: "We also talked a lot about the climate crisis at this summit. People around the world are shocked and devastated to see the Amazon engulfed in flames. (Canadian Foreign) Minister (Chrystia) Freeland has reached out to her counterparts in Brazil and Bolivia and our government has been in touch with the Brazilian government to offer our support and to put an end to this crisis. Today, alongside other G7 countries, Canada is stepping up to fight the fire in the Amazon. Canada is offering to help by sending water bombers as well as a financial contribution of C$15 million dollars." TRUDEAU LISTENING TO QUESTION FROM JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER, JUSTIN TRUDEAU, SAYING: "Now, we could pretend that the situation in the Amazon is just part of a natural cycle but that's not exactly what's going on here. The toll of human activity and extreme weather events in our communities, our environment, our health and our world will continue to climb unless we take decisive action." TRUDEAU LISTENING TO QUESTION FROM JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (French) CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER, JUSTIN TRUDEAU, SAYING: "I am happy to announce that we will invest C$15 million dollars in aid to the Amazon, as well as send over resources and equipment including planes. We have benefited from the help of countries and firefighters from Mexico and Australia, for example, in similar situations over the past years and we are very happy to be a part of this network that comes to the rescue directly and concretely for our friends in the Amazon." TRUDEAU LISTENING TO QUESTION FROM JOURNALIST
- Embargoed: 9th September 2019 17:53
- Keywords: Justin Trudeau Amazon forest fires G7 summit Biarritz G7 leaders Canada water bombers climate change
- Location: BIARRITZ, FRANCE
- City: BIARRITZ, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: G7,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001ATUTNWN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Canada will send water bombers to Brazil to help fight wildfires in the Amazon jungle and is also contributing C$15 million ($11.30 million) in aid, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday (August 26) at the end of a Group of Seven summit in France.
A record number of blazes are ravaging the rainforest, many of them thought to have been started deliberately in Brazil, drawing international concern because of the Amazon's importance to the global environment.
Standing alongside Chilean President Sebastián Piñera, who was invited to join the wealthy-nation leaders in the French seaside resort of Biarritz, French President Emmanuel Macron said the G7 countries were ready to provide concrete support to the region.
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing leader who wants to open the Amazon to more farming and mining, said on Twitter that Macron's initiative treated Brazil like "a colony or no-man's land" and an attack on its sovereignty.
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