The Washington Post - 23.08.2019

FRIDAY, AUGUST 23 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A

ing in a rainforest that scientists
say is essential to curbing global
warming.
The Amazon — 2.12 million
square miles across Brazil, Colom-
bia, Peru and other countries —
serves as the lungs of the planet,
accounting for a quarter of the
carbon dioxide absorbed by the
world’s forests.
Now it’s under threat as never
before. A growing agricultural sec-
tor, rampant deforestation and cli-
mate change have yielded a dis-
turbing new reality: The world’s
largest rainforest — soaked by
hundreds of inches of rain each
year — is catching fire. As the peak
dry season approaches, and envi-
ronmental safeguards are relaxed,
there is pervasive worry the dam-
age will spread.
“The forest is becoming like
Swiss cheese, with all of these
roads and things crossing in the
forest,” said Brazilian environ-
mental scientist Carlos Nobre.
“The more the forest becomes de-
graded, the more the forest will
become vulnerable to forest fires.”
The leading force of degrada-
tion is deforestation, much of it
illegal. The rate at which the Ama-
zon is losing canopy has grown
since the inauguration of Bolson-
aro, a former fringe lawmaker who
campaigned in part on promises
to open up the rainforest for devel-
opment.
In June alone, an area half the
size of Rhode Island was lost, gov-
ernment statistics show. Once the
trees are cut down, the easiest way
to dispose of them is to let them
dry for months in the sun — and
then set them ablaze.
More than three-quarters of the
deforestation is the result of cattle
farming and soy production, ac-
cording to the advocacy group
Amazon Watch. Laborers often
use fire to clear the land.
Droughts also play a role. These
occur naturally, but scientists say
climate change and deforestation
are making them more frequent —
and more severe.
The result?
“I cannot remember any other
big fire episode like this one,” said
Vitor Gomes, an environmental
scientist at the Federal University
of Para.
“Attributing the whole episode
to natural causes only is practical-
ly impossible,” he said. “We are not
even in the middle of the drying
season.”
Since January, the Brazilian

BRAZIL FROM A

Amazon has suffered 75,336 fires,

according to the country’s Nation-

al Institute for Space Research, an

85 percent jump from the same

point last year. In the last two

years, the area razed by fire has

more than doubled, from 3,

square miles during the first seven

months of 2017 to 7,192 square

miles during the same period this

year, the space institute reported.

Bolsonaro is trying to lift Brazil

out of years of economic stagna-

tion. But his plans for the Amazon

— and his recent behavior — are

isolating him internationally, and

threatening Brazil’s position as a

global leader on the environment.

In recent weeks, he accused the

director of the space institute of

lying about rising deforestation —

and fired him. Then his Environ-

ment Ministry announced it

would take away foreign aid from

projects to fight deforestation and

instead fund cattle and soybean

farmers.

Germany and Norway respond-

ed by cutting tens of millions of

dollars in aid. Bolsonaro told Ger-

man Chancellor Angela Merkel to

mind her own business, and point-

ed out that Norway hunts whales.

On Thursday, Bolsonaro com-

plained that Brazil didn’t have the

money to fight the Amazon’s forest

fires.

“There aren’t the resources,” he

told reporters. He then reiterated

that nongovernmental organiza-

tions were “the biggest suspects”

in the fires.

His environment minister,

meanwhile, was booed and heck-

led at a climate conference in the

northern city of Salvador.

“Brazil’s climate change denial

is isolating the country,” said Mau-

ricio Santoro, a professor of inter-

national relations at Rio de Janei-

ro’s state university. “It is a theme of

the global agenda, and Brazil plays

a central role, whether it wants to

or not, because of the Amazon,

because of its biodiversity.”

And because of what’s happen-

ing now.

The fires, fueled by winds from

an incoming cold front, produced

scenes this week both startling

and ominous: smoke darkening

the midday skies over Sao Paulo

and other cities. Day became

night, leading to confusion, then

jokes — and then outrage, in Brazil

and beyond.

The hashtag #PrayForTheAma-

zon exploded on social media,

along with images of the forest

burning and animals cowering —

and demands for more action.

“Terrifying to think that the

Amazon... has been on fire...

with literally NO media coverage

whatsoever! Why?” the actor Leo-

nardo DiCaprio asked on Insta-

gram. The post collected more

than 3 million likes.

The implications of a burning

Amazon are global. One of the best

defenses against climate change,

the rainforest is quickly approach-

ing what scientists warn is a tip-

ping point — between 20 and 25

percent deforestation — when the

damage done to the forest could

become irreversible.

What has alarmed researchers

most is that Brazil is not in the

midst of any significant drought.

The driest part of the year — when

the forest is most susceptible to

fire — is still to come. But already

the forest is burning.

“It is disturbing that forest fires

have been in evidence in a year

that is not one of extreme

drought,” said Philip Fearnside, an

ecologist at the National Institute

for Research in Amazonia. “The

continual advance of logging

makes ever more forest vulnerable

to fire, as does the cumulative

effect of past forest fires.”

Ricardo Mello, head of the

World Wide Fund for Nature’s

Amazon program, struggled to

find the words to describe his pes-

simism on Thursday.

“It’s historically — this is high-

est number [of fires] I’ve ever

seen,” he said.

To him, what was most concern-

ing was that the country’s presi-

dent not only didn’t seem to grasp

the consequences of inaction but

was also transforming an environ-

mental crisis into a dispute he was

having with NGOs.

“In cities in the Amazon, air-

planes are grounded because

there is so much smoke that they

can’t take off,” he said. “The situa-

tion is very serious.... The gov-

ernment has to do something.”

[email protected]

Marina Lopes in Sao Paulo and

Andrew Freedman in Washington

contributed to this report.

Smoke from Amazon blazes darkens midday skies over Sao Paulo, other cities

ROGERIO FLORENTINO/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

BY SIMON DENYER

AND MIN JOO KIM

tokyo — South Korea on Thurs-
day scrapped an agreement to
share military intelligence with
Japan, significantly escalating the
stakes in the U.S. allies’ dispute
over trade and historical griev-
ances.
The decision was met with dis-
appointment in the United States,
which views intelligence sharing
between the allies regarding
North Korea as critical.
“We’re urging each of the two
countries to continue to engage,”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
said during a news conference in
Ottawa. “There is no doubt that
the shared interests of Japan and
South Korea are important and
they’re important to the United
States of America. And we hope
each of those two countries can
begin to put that relationship back
in exactly the right place.”
Kim You-geun of the National
Security Council in Seoul said Ja-
pan’s decision to drop South Korea
from a list of trusted trading part-
ners earlier this month, citing se-
curity issues, “brought about fun-
damental changes to the environ-
ment for security cooperation be-
tween the two countries.”
“Under these circumstances,
the government of the Republic of
Korea decided that maintaining
this agreement, which was signed
to facilitate the exchange of sensi-
tive military information, does not
serve our national interest.”
The pact, known as the General
Security of Military Information
Agreement (GSOMIA), was signed
in 2016 in the face of a growing
threat from North Korea’s nuclear
weapons program.
South Korea’s decision comes a
day after both nations’ foreign
ministers met at a trilateral event
in China, where they agreed to
keep talking but did not announce
any progress in the dispute.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro

Kono called the decision “ex-

tremely regrettable” and said To-

kyo would lodge a firm protest.

The United States had urged

the two allies to settle their differ-

ences, with Pompeo stressing

their “incredibly important” coop-

eration on North Korea. But some

critics say the Trump administra-

tion should have acted sooner and

more forcefully to defuse the row.

“This will only get worse, and

it’s only American leadership that

can bring the parties together,”

tweeted Harry Kazianis, senior di-

rector at the Center for the Nation-

al Interest in Washington.

Some experts had expected

that South Korean President

Moon Jae-in would shy away from

canceling the agreement for the

sake of his country’s alliance with

the United States. But Foreign

Minister Kang Kyung-wha said

the decision is “an issue separate

from the alliance.”

“Cooperation on the alliance

front will continue to be strength-

ened,” she said. “This is a decision

we made because of situations

triggered by the issue of trust be-

tween South Korea and Japan.”

Seoul’s willingness to listen to

American advice may have been

undermined by the way President

Trump has mocked Moon and

badgered South Korea for more

money to pay for the presence of

U.S. troops.

But more fundamental forces

are also at work.

The GSOMIA was signed by a

conservative South Korean gov-

ernment, which traditionally puts

more value on the alliance with

the United States and takes a more

tolerant attitude toward Japan

than liberal or left-wing govern-

ments, such as Moon’s.

“I don’t think a lot of western

analysts realize that the S Korea

left doesn’t share the GSOMIA as-

sumption that Japan is a partner

and NK an opponent,” tweeted

Robert E. Kelly, a political science

professor at Pusan National Uni-

versity. “To the left here, it’s the

opposite. The world is now learn-

ing just how sharply polarized

South Korea is over Japan and

North Korea.”

Either way, the biggest losers

may be the South Koreans.

“Not renewing GSOMIA is a

stunningly stupid decision by

South Korea that will hurt itself

more than anyone else,” tweeted

Mintaro Oba, a speechwriter at

West Wing Writers and a former

Korea desk officer at the State

Department. “Seoul will pay a very

grave price for this in Washington.

It is not in keeping with a con-

structive approach to the U.S.-

Korea alliance.”

And the biggest winner is likely

to be North Korea.

“With Pyongyang bolstering its

military capability through re-

peated weapons tests, intelligence

sharing is more important than

ever to counter nuclear threats

from North Korea,” said Lee

Ho-ryung, a researcher at the

state-run Korea Institute for De-

fense Analyses in Seoul.

“South Korea’s withdrawal

from GSOMIA undermines trilat-

eral security cooperation between

the United States and its two most

important allies in East Asia at a

critical time,” Lee said, adding that

it also would send a “wrong signal

to North Korea.”

The dispute between Japan and

South Korea flared over compen-

sation for wartime forced labor. It

has since escalated into tit-for-tat

measures.

The dispute began with South

Korean Supreme Court rulings

last year ordering Japanese com-

panies to compensate victims of

forced labor during Japan’s occu-

pation of Korea from 1910 to 1945.

The judgments infuriated Ja-

pan, which gave South Korea an

economic aid package as final

compensation and settlement of

historical grievances when the

countries restored diplomatic re-

lations in 1965.

Japan’s response was to strike

at South Korea’s status as a trusted

trading partner, first imposing ex-

port controls on three chemicals

vital for South Korea’s semicon-

ductor industry and then remov-

ing the country from a “white list”

of 27 nations that are trusted to

import goods that may have

military uses without jumping

through bureaucratic hurdles.

[email protected]

Kim reported from Seoul. John

Hudson in Ottawa contributed to this

report.

S. Korea cancels accord on sharing

military intelligence with Japan

Move seen as blow to

U.S. interests, efforts

to counter Pyongyang

BRUNO KELLY/REUTERS

TOP: An aerial view of an area

that has been scorched by fire

in the Brazilian state of Mato

Grosso. LEFT: A tract of

Amazon jungle burns as it is

cleared this week by loggers

and farmers in Amazonas state.

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