Brazil to hire short-term environmental enforcers following Amazon fires | World News, The Indian Express

Brazil to hire short-term environmental enforcers following Amazon fires | World News, The Indian Express

By Reuters |Brasilia |Published: September 7, 2019 1:30:14 pm

Brazil to hire short-term environmental enforcers following Amazon fires

Brazil's Amazon rainforest has recorded the highest number of fires this year since 2010, drawing an international outcry that the country is not doing enough to protect the world's largest rainforest.

President Jair Bolsonaro has said the country does not have the resources to police an area as vast as the Amazon, and the federal government is facing a severe budget shortfall as the economy recovers more slowly than expected. (AP Photo)

Brazil doesn’t have the funding to hire more permanent environmental enforcement agents in the wake of surging Amazon fires but will contract local environmental police on a short-term basis, Environment Minister Ricardo Salles told Reuters on Friday.