France “has considerable room for improvement“in terms of protecting the Amazon rainforest, says Arnaud Schwartz, president of France Nature Environnement, Sunday June 4 on BlazeTrends. Emmanuel Macron receives the same day the indigenous leader of Amazonia Raoni Metuktire, in view of the Summit of the countries of Amazonia , this summer, where France was invited by Brazil.”France also has, with Guyana, a piece of Amazonian forest on its own territory, and therefore something very concrete to do at home, to protect it.“, specifies Arnaud Schwartz.
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Arnaud Schwartz, President of France Nature Environnement: Yes, despite its reception by various Presidents of the Republic, not much has changed. It is not necessarily the fault of the successive presidents of France, but they may have their share of responsibility too. What poses a problem at the level of the Amazonian forest is, among other things, illegal logging, gold mining and industrialized, globalized agriculture. And for all this, France can act.
By receiving the cacique Raoni, Emmanuel Macron wants to show a commitment to the ecological question, does that seem legitimate to you?
No one is perfect, but France also has, with Guyana, a piece of Amazonian forest on its own territory, and therefore something very concrete to do at home, to protect it. This is what we are trying to do by fighting against illegal gold panning. But this is also what is not being done enough against legalized gold mining. There is considerable room for improvement.
How could France act in this matter?
Already, we could perhaps ask ourselves the question of the very advisability of wanting to exploit gold when there is so much in circulation on the planet. On illegal wood, we are working on it, to ensure that there is less and less in circulation, that we can distinguish what is of legal origin or not. But on globalized industrialized agriculture, especially livestock and GMO crops, here too, France is doing somewhat the opposite of what should be. Rather, it promotes this by developing an agriculture that is partly export-oriented, rather than trying to have an agriculture that allows each country to meet its own needs.
