Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourao has invited US actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio to visit the Amazon region together. “We could take an eight hour hike through the rainforest. He would then better understand how things work in this vast area, ”Mourao said yesterday.
DiCaprio (45) is committed to the preservation of the rainforest in the Amazon region and repeatedly criticizes the environmental policy of the far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Most recently, he accused the head of state in social networks of downplaying the latest wave of slash and burn in the region. In the past year, large fires in the Amazon region caused international outrage.
About a month ago, the Brazilian government banned the burning of areas to create pastures and fields for 120 days. However, the fires continue almost unabated. The National Institute for Space Research, which evaluates satellite data on environmental degradation, registered over 20,000 fires from July 16 to August 15. In the first two weeks of August alone, there were more than 15,000 fires. That was only a minimal decrease of eight percent compared to the same period in 2019.
