Senator Mozarildo Cavalcanti (PTB-RR) stated in his speech at the Senate on Tuesday (13) that the fires in the Amazon cannot be considered the principal cause of global warming. According to the senator, there is a fraudulent world campaign to prevent Brazil from adequately taking advantage of the forest’s resources.

- Global warming is, has been, and will for some time to come be caused by the powerful and rich countries of the world that have been burning fossil fuels with their industries, their cars and even their airplanes - stated Mozarildo.

Mozarildo said that the burnings represent about 6% of the current increase in global temperatures. The senator said that the Amazon “has never been a problem for the country” and the forest can be the solution for many of Brazil’s problems, if it is utilized in a rational way.

The senator also criticized the federal government for neither planning nor implementing systems for mineral extraction in the region, such as diamonds and titanium, which encourages smuggling. Mozarildo said that a plan does not exist for rational utilization of the Amazon forest. The senator called the attention to the inhabitants of the Amazon, about 250 thousand indians and more than 20 million non-indians.

- The inhabitants of the Amazon are Brazilians. I don’t see, for example, any concern for these human beings. With regard to the great issues of the Amazon, the forest, the rivers and the animals are very well presented, but the human situation is not shown, - he complained.