アマゾン火災、ブラジル大統領の発言は「うそ」　先住民長老が反論

【リオデジャネイロＡＦＰ＝時事】ブラジル・アマゾンの先住民カヤポの長老で、著名な熱帯雨林保護活動家として知られるラオーニ・メトゥティレ氏（90）は26日、熱帯雨林に甚大な被害を与えた森林火災の責任は先住民にあると発言した、同国のジャイル・ボルソナロ大統領を非難した。（写真はブラジル・アマゾンの先住民カヤポの長老ラオーニ・メトゥティレ氏。同国マトグロソ州ピアラスにて）
　ボルソナロ大統領は２２日の国連総会の演説で、自身の環境政策を擁護するとともに、森林火災は先住民らによる伝統的な焼き畑農業が主な原因だと述べ、物議を醸した。
　森林火災は大規模農業のための土地の伐開が主な原因だと主張する環境活動家らは、ラオーニ氏同様、ボルソナロ氏の主張にすぐさま反論している。
　ニュースサイトＧ１によると、世界中を旅しながらアマゾンの危機に関する啓発活動を行っていることで知られるラオーニ氏は、健康診断のため訪れていた中西部シノプで記者団に対し、「ボルソナロ氏は先住民が地球に火を放っていると話していたが、それはうそだ。そうしているのは農業従事者たちだ」「彼らの一部は森に危害を与えている。伐採業者や金採掘業者も火を放っている」と述べた。
　ブラジルのアマゾンでは昨年、森林消失面積が８５．３％増加。過去最大の１万１２３平方キロに上り、中東レバノンの面積に匹敵する規模となった。
　現時点では今年は焼失面積が約５％減少しているが、一方で森林火災の発生件数は１２％増の７万１６７３件となっている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/09/28-12:36）

Chief Raoni Metuktire, one of the most iconic defenders of the Amazon, condemned Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Saturday for blaming wildfires devastating the rainforest on indigenous people.
The far-right president sparked controversy Tuesday with a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in which he defended his environmental record and said the fires destroying large swaths of the world's biggest rainforest were largely set by indigenous farmers using traditional slash-and-burn agriculture.
Environmentalists, who say the fires are mainly set to clear land for large-scale agribusiness, were quick to dispute the claim -- as did Raoni, a 90-year-old chief of the Kayapo people known for traveling the world to raise awareness of threats to the Amazon.
He said on TV that Indians were setting the planet on fire. That's a lie. The farmers are the ones setting the fires, Raoni told journalists during a visit to the west-central city of Sinop for a medical check-up, according to the news site G1.
Some of them are harming the forest. Loggers, gold miners.... They are the ones setting the planet on fire, added the chief, who is famous for the large disc inserted in his lower lip and his colorful feather headdresses.
Raoni is the latest figure to accuse the president of distorting the truth in his speech, in which Bolsonaro downplayed damage to the Amazon and said Brazil was the victim of a brutal disinformation campaign.
Bolsonaro has presided over a surge in deforestation since taking office in January 2019.
Last year, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased 85.3 percent, to a record 10,123 square kilometers (3,900 square miles) -- nearly the size of Lebanon.
So far this year, the rate is down by about five percent, though the number of fires has increased 12 percent, to 71,673.
Meanwhile, just south of the Amazon, the world's largest tropical wetlands, the Pantanal, are also being devastated by fires this year.
In less than nine months, 2020 has already broken the annual record for the number of fires in the Brazilian Pantanal, with 16,119, burning more than 10 percent of the wetlands.