BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil’s environment ministry said it will continue operations to curb deforestation and fires in the Amazon and other regions, reversing an earlier announcement that it would halt such operations starting Monday. The decision was published on the ministry’s website late Friday after Vice President Hamilton Mourão said Environment Minister Ricardo Salles acted “hastily” when he said the government had run out of money for operations against deforestation. The environment ministry had previously said the economy ministry had blocked over $11 million for environmental protection, a move that would have demobilized over 1,300 firefighters, hundreds of inspection agents, six helicopters and 10 planes. President Jair Bolsonaro and Salles face criticism in Brazil and abroad because of their calls to develop the Amazon as fires and deforestation rise in the region. The prospect of a halt to the environment ministry's protective efforts in the Amazon and the ecologically important Pantanal wetlands sparked criticism from environmental advocates and Mourão, who was appointed by Bolsonaro as the coordinator of a military-led effort to fight illegal burning and unauthorized development in the Amazon.

Source: International New York Times August 29, 2020 16:41 UTC