Guernsey Press

World’s top footballers join clamour for action over Amazon wildfires

Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe are among those to have drawn attention to the developing situation in the rainforest.

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Football superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe have joined forces with the likes of French president Emmanuel Macron to highlight the plight of the Amazon region, currently plagued by wildfires.

Five-time world player of the year Ronaldo beat Mr Macron to the punch with his tweet urging action on the Amazon that, by Friday morning, had already racked up more than a quarter-million likes.

Portugal international Ronaldo tweeted: “The Amazon Rainforest produces more than 20% of the world’s oxygen and it’s been burning for the past 3 weeks. It’s our responsibility to help to save our planet.”

Mr Macron’s tweet later was similarly urgent, saying “Our house is burning. Literally.”

Mr Macron put the Amazon fires on the agenda for the G7 summit of world leaders that France is hosting this weekend.

Other footballers chimed in, too, unusual in the sport whose professionals are often reluctant to express views about off-pitch issues.

Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe, a World Cup winner with France, tweeted a composite photo of rainforest in the shape of human lungs, lush and green on one side, consumed by flames on the other, and the words: “Pray for Amazonia.”

And from the world of tennis came a straight-to-the point tweet from top-ranked Novak Djokovic.

“Heartbreaking,” the winner of 16 majors wrote above a photo of forests aflame.

But beyond sports stars lamenting the Amazon’s pain to their global audiences, it wasn’t obvious what, if anything, Europe could immediately do about the situation.

Brazil was unlikely to ask for fire-fighting assistance, given how conservative Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has bristled over Mr Macron’s intervention.

The Brazilian leader accused Mr Macron of sensationalism and of seeking “personal political gains in an internal matter for Brazil and other Amazonian countries.”

Brazil contains about 60% of the Amazon rainforest.

Brazil Amazon Fires
The fires in Brazil (Nasa/PA)

Larger, land-based fire-fighting planes could only reach the Amazon from Europe via a circuitous route over Greenland, North and Central America, which “would take an eternity”, he said.

And European governments might not have much firefighting expertise and manpower to spare after another scorching European summer that saw record heatwaves and left many areas of Europe tinder-dry, another consequence of climate change.

“We’re already very busy,” Col Allione said.

“We’ve always had fires but now we have giant infernos.”

Brazil Bolsonaro Environment
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro (Eraldo Peres/AP)

Some have accused Mr Macron of hypocrisy, arguing that while he is adept at using Twitter to position himself as a champion for the planet, his domestic record on green issues is spotty at best.

His first environment minister quit abruptly, frustrated by the slow progress fighting climate change under Mr Macron’s government.

“Beautiful speeches are no longer deluding anyone,” the French branches of Greenpeace and Oxfam said in a joint appeal for stepped-up action from G7 nations against climate change.

“Emmanuel Macron cannot content himself by playing the servant at international summits to come. He must end France’s inaction on the climate to be credible.”

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