- Title: Firefighters battle fires at the Alto Xingu Indigenous park in Mato Grosso
- Date: 29th August 2019
- Summary: MATO GROSSO STATE, BRAZIL (AUGUST 28, 2019) (REUTERS) VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS SIT IN A BOAT FIREFIGHTERS EXIT BOAT ON TO SHORE FIREFIGHTERS PUT ON HELMETS AND PREPARE VARIOUS OF FIREFIGHTERS WALKING INTO BUSH AREA HOT POINTS AT ALTO XINGU INDIGENOUS PARK FIREFIGHTERS TRYING TO CONTROL HOT POINTS / FIREFIGHTER USING MACHETE FIRES BLAZING IN AREA FIREFIGHTER USING MACHETE FIREFIGHTER PUTTING OUT FIRE FIREFIGHTERS WALKING THROUGH CHARRED AREA FIREFIGHTERS LEAVING AREA ON SPEEDBOAT
- Embargoed: 12th September 2019 19:00
- Keywords: Mato Grosso Brazil firefighting Alto Xingu Indigenous park
- Location: MATO GROSSO STATE, BRAZIL
- City: MATO GROSSO STATE, BRAZIL
- Country: Brazil
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Fires,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001AU9W0NB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Armed with just shovels and machetes, volunteer fire brigade members attempted to control hot points at Alto Xingu Indigenous park, Mato Grosso state, Brazil on Wednesday (August 28).
The indigenous park is home to the several indigenous communities in the Amazon and covers a vast area between the two states of Mato Grosso and Para.
This sombre scene has angered many in the international community as a record number of fires in the Amazon rainforest intensified an unfolding environmental crisis.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Wednesday he would meet with other South American countries to set common policy for defending the Amazon rain forest, while his foreign minister told Reuters the nation should be seen as an environmental hero.
A Reuters report on Wednesday found that Bolsonaro's government had weakened the federal agency charged with protecting the rain forest through budget cuts, restrictions on destroying equipment used in environmental crime, and the sidelining of an elite force of enforcement agents.
Brazil's federal government is preparing a presidential decree forbidding fires to clear land in the country during the dry season, the presidency said on Wednesday.
According to one source, Bolsonaro had already agreed to the main terms of the decree.
Forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon, which accounts for more than half of the world's largest rainforest, have surged in number by 83% this year, according to government data, destroying vast swathes of a vital bulwark against global climate change.
(Production: Douglas Engle, Lucas Landau) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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