Democratic U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio of Oregon Tuesday announced he will introduce legislation to pressure Brazil to fight the wildfires burning in the Amazon rainforest and change its environmental policies.
The Act for the Amazon Act would ban imports from Brazil, including beef and soybeans. DeFazio says this, along with a freeze on targeted aid funds, would put pressure on Brazilian President Bolsonaro.
DeFazio: “Who has encouraged deforestation, destroying the rainforest, displacing the indigenous peoples. He thinks he can get a free ride. I’m going to show him that he can’t get a free ride from the United States of America, at least, on this.”
DeFazio says even though Oregon is a long way from Brazil, the Amazon rainforest is known as the lungs of the earth and its destruction could affect rainfall and food supply in the Pacific Northwest. Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research has recorded about 40-thousand forest fires this year in the Amazon.
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