Brazil looks to neighbors for Amazon support, defends record

(Reuters News, 28 Aug 2019) Bolsonaro says a meeting with regional neighbors except Venezuela to discuss a common policy in defense of the Amazon will be held on Sept. 6 in Colombia.

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.

In an indication that Bolsonaro, a far-right conservative, is forging closer ties with neighboring countries than with European nations, he accepted Chile's offer of four aircraft to help fight the fires sweeping through the world's largest rain forest.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera in Brasilia, Bolsonaro said a meeting with regional neighbors except Venezuela to discuss the Amazon would be held on Sept. 6 in Leticia, Colombia.

In a statement, the two leaders said environmental challenges must be met while respecting "national sovereignty." Each country, it added, should have control over the "rational and sustainable use of their natural resources, in line with their environmental obligations and needs of their citizens, including indigenous peoples."

Pinera, who has a close relationship with Bolsonaro, is an increasingly important figure in the environmental crisis triggered by the Amazon fires, and visited Brasilia on his return from a G7 summit in France where he attended as the rotating representative for Latin America.

Chile will hold the COP25 climate summit in December, having taken it over from the original host, Brazil, after Bolsonaro was elected.

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Reuters News, 28 Aug 2019: Brazil looks to neighbors for Amazon support, defends record