"The call of the forest which is burning" mentioned by French President Emmanuel Macron in advance of the G7 Summit on Saturday, 24 August, was reportedly heard by the heads of state and government present in Biarritz.
The seven major liberal democracies (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States) agreed at the Biarritz Summit, which ended on Monday, 26 August, to provide an initial "of at least $20 million" in aid to respond to the emergency of the fires ravaging the Amazon. In addition, the G7 agreed on an "initiative" for the reforestation of the rainforest, which will be finalised during the United Nations General Assembly at the end of September.
The day after the leaders' dinner on Saturday, 24 August, the French president seemed optimistic. "There is a real convergence to say: ‘We all agree to help the countries affected by these fires as soon as possible’", he said. He mentioned contacts "with all the countries of the Amazon (...) so that very concrete commitments of technical and financial resources can be finalised".
The French President stressed the need to accelerate the reforestation of the Amazon while respecting national sovereignty. "What we are working on now is an international mobilisation mechanism to more efficiently help these countries, but with them," he said.
According to one source, a long discussion took place during dinner at the Biarritz lighthouse. There was an agreement to "get in touch" with President Jair Bolsonaro, which we were told the French President should do to determine the type of assistance Brazil needs.
Noting the ongoing environmental and climate disaster caused by the fires in the Amazon (see EUROPE 12312/2), the French Presidency added this subject to the G7 agenda. Beforehand, on Friday 23 August, the French President had submitted three proposals: - mobilise G7 members and beyond to raise funding for reforestation of the Amazon; - develop "much more powerful" prevention mechanisms to prevent these fires; - find a "form of good governance" by involving NGOs and indigenous peoples more closely to "stop the process of industrialised deforestation".
On Sunday 25 August, in an article published by the French weekly newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD), the Minister of Overseas Territories, Annick Girardin, and elected officials from Guyana, called for the creation of an international fund against forest fires and for reforestation in the Amazon. This international fund would not be directly dependent on States and would primarily target local actors.
The signatories also urge the European Union to "double its interregional development fund dedicated to biodiversity and development in the Amazon".
Ratification of the EU/Mercosur agreement in the balance
In this context, the free trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur countries has been questioned by some heads of state and government.
On Friday 23 August, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, followed by French President Emmanuel Macron, threatened to oppose the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement concluded at the end of June (see EUROPE 12286/3), saying that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had lied about his climate commitments made at the G20 Osaka Summit (see EUROPE 12286/6).
On Saturday 24 August, both countries were joined by Luxembourg.
However, this position is not shared by Spain, the United Kingdom or Germany, with Berlin considering that the "response (French and Irish) is not appropriate to what is currently happening in Brazil". For his part, the Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, remained silent on the subject, focusing entirely on the government crisis in his country (see EUROPE 12310/2).
The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, who also represented the European Commission due to the absence of its President, Jean-Claude Juncker (see EUROPE 12310/26), also seemed to threaten the agreement reached.
"The EU stands by the EU/Mercosur agreement, but harmonious ratification is hard to imagine as long as the Brazilian government allows for the destruction of the green lungs of planet earth".
On Monday 26 August, European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva recalled that the free trade agreement anchors Brazil to the Paris Agreement and provides, "for the first time", binding commitments to fight climate change (37% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions) and illegal deforestation in the Brazilian part of the Amazon.
"They are not just words, but exist as legal obligations on the paper once the agreement enters into force," she insisted.
The situation in the Amazon concerns the international community. Wildfires, mainly caused by slash-and-burn clearing, have increased by 83% since the beginning of the year, compared to 2018 over the same period. Between January and August, 72,843 fires were reported in the country, compared to 39,759 in 2018, according to figures from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE).
Africa. On Monday, 26 August, at a press conference with Chilean President Sebastián Piñera, whose country will host the next UN climate conference, Mr Macron said that "a similar initiative " was being considered for "Africa, where forests are also burning", including " in the Congo ". (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)