(Bloomberg) -- French President Emmanuel Macron further staked France’s claim to the debate over the Amazon’s future with a geography lesson -- the latest shot in a back-and-forth feud with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro over climate change and the destruction of the South American rainforest.
Citing the French overseas department of Guyana in South America as fully a part of France, Macron on Monday said his nation has a direct interest in the rainforest’s future. French Guyana shares a 730-kilometer (450-mile) border with Brazil -- about 100 kilometers longer than continental France’s frontier with Spain -- and is one of five overseas departments.
“We are a member of the Amazon nations,” Macron said at an event on the sidelines of a UN climate summit in New York on Monday, alongside representatives from Bolivia, Colombia and Peru and actor Harrison Ford. Macron called for nations not to weaken their efforts to save tropical rainforests, and to better respond to the needs of those living in such ecosystems.
Macron and Bolsonaro got into a trans-Atlantic feud during the Group of Seven meetings in France last month over climate change and the record number of fires in the Amazon. Ahead of the G-7, Macron threatened to scrap an EU-Mercosur trade deal over what he described as Bolsonaro’s “lies” over his commitment to climate change.
Bolsonaro quickly punched back at what his administration saw as unfair infringement on Brazil’s sovereignty, and his government has undertaken a public relations campaign asserting its commitment to protecting and sustainably developing the rainforest. But the fight got personal, too, with Bolsonaro tweeting out a supporter’s criticism of Macron’s wife and demanding an apology from the French president.
The Brazilian leader, who has called for expanded development in the rainforest, plans to take his potentially conflicting message of environmental stewardship and rainforest development to the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York this week. He also vowed to avoid personal spats, saying “I am preparing a fairly objective speech. No one is going to fight with anyone, you can rest assured.”
But in a sign of how controversial the Brazilian leader’s status is on climate issues, Bolsonaro isn’t taking part in UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s all-day summit on the topic on Monday. President Donald Trump made a surprise appearance at the event, which wasn’t initially on his schedule.
“The elephant is the room is that Brazil is not here,” Macron said. “We are willing to work with Brazil. Our goal is to work with everyone, with respect for everyone.”
The feud between the Brazilian and French leaders appears far from over. Asked about the comments from Macron by reporters in Brasilia on Monday, acting president Hamilton Mourao said that the French president was “getting his few minutes of fame”
In addition to French Guyana, France’s overseas departments include the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique and the Indian Ocean islands of Mayotte and Reunion.
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