ADVERTISEMENT

EU Must Use Full Toolkit to Counter Amazon Fires, Finland Says

EU Must Use Full Toolkit to Counter Amazon Fires, Finland Says

(Bloomberg) -- The European Union should use “all tools” at its disposal to bring the fires raging in the Amazon jungle to a halt, Finland said.

The Nordic nation, which currently holds the rotating six-month presidency of the bloc, sent a letter dated Tuesday to Federica Mogherini, the EU high representative on foreign affairs. It said the EU should urgently assess how it can use foreign and trade policy as means to stop the trend of deliberate forest fires and burn clearing in Brazil that threaten to accelerate climate change.

“Recent actions in Brazil in particular risk leading toward a vicious spiral toward further destruction of the rain forest,” Finland’s Minister for the Environment and Climate Krista Mikkonen wrote in the letter. “The international community cannot let the development reach a point of no return.”

EU Must Use Full Toolkit to Counter Amazon Fires, Finland Says

The blazes in the Amazon emerged as a new front in global trade tensions last week as French President Emmanuel Macron threatened to block the EU’s trade deal with the Mercosur countries. Ireland said it could not vote for the Mercosur agreement, while Finland said it wants the EU to consider a ban on Brazilian beef. Sanctions are also an oft-used tool on the international scene.

Finland didn’t specify any individual actions in the letter, and the intention is for the EU to select the appropriate measures, according to a spokeswoman. EU foreign ministers hold informal meetings in Helsinki on Thursday and Friday, and ways to fight the fires are on the agenda.

--With assistance from Nikos Chrysoloras.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kati Pohjanpalo in Helsinki at kpohjanpalo@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tasneem Hanfi Brögger at tbrogger@bloomberg.net, Christian Wienberg

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.