The UK is attempting to strike trade deals with Brazil (Picture: Rex; WWF; Reuters; Department for International Trade)

Britain is sleepwalking into global ecological disaster if it continues with post-Brexit trade talks, campaigners have warned.

Some of the worst fires in modern history are continuing to burn across the Amazon rainforest and the country’s right-wing leadership is being held largely responsible.

Despite this, minister Conor Burns is currently in Brazil on a trade mission and has been accused of ‘cosying up’ to the government.

Campaigners are urging the UK to follow other European countries in condemning President Jair Bolsonaro’s environmental record and suspend talks while the fires rage.


Friends of the Earth campaigner Guy Shrubsole told Metro.co.uk: ‘The government needs to be putting the crisis of the Amazon front and centre of any discussions they are having about trade.



‘They need to say “we won’t do a deal with you if you are effectively condoning burning the lungs of the world.”’

‘Michael Gove talked about delivering a ‘green Brexit’ and so we should have no part in it.

‘There seems to be a global race to the bottom with this government by having discussions with ministers that are keen to see the Amazon exploited.’

There have now been over 74,000 wildfires in the Amazon this year (Picture: Reuters)

A tract of Amazon jungle burns as it is being cleared by loggers and farmers in Novo Airao, Amazonas state, Brazil (Picture: Reuters)

Environmentalists and academics have blamed the Brazilian government, under far-right President Mr Bolsonaro, for a sharp increase in Amazon deforestation.

The climate change sceptic swept to power in January promising to open up the Amazon to mining and farming.

His rhetoric is said to have emboldened farmers to burn large sections of the rainforest for beef and soy production.

Camila Veiga of the Brazilian Association of NGOs said: ‘The fires are the consequence of a policy of environmental devastation, of support for agribusiness, of increasing pastures.’

Scientists have recorded more than 74,000 fires in Brazil this year – an 84% increase compared to the same period last year.

They can now be seen from space and have plunged the largest city Sao Paulo into darkness because of the thick smoke.

In total, the blazes have created a layer of smoke estimated to be 1.2 million square miles wide.

Mr Bolsonaro sacked the head of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) when the figures on fires became public.

Yesterday he attempted to blame charities for starting fires in a bid to ‘make him look bad.’

Sao Paulo, Brazil, was plunged into darkness in the afternoon because of smoke from the fires (Picture: AP)

The President has largely ignored international concern over the destruction of the Amazon, which covers some 2.1 million square miles.

It is home to one million indigenous people, three million species of plants and animals and is key to tackling global warming because of the way it absorbs carbon dioxide and releases oxygen.

Large fires have now been burning for around three weeks and an area the size of a football pitch is said to be lost every minute.

Relations between Europe and Brazil are at a low, which has worried the powerful agriculture sector.

Last week, Norway joined Germany in halting $60 million worth of Amazon protection subsidies, accusing Brazil of turning its back on the fight against deforestation.



French and German leaders have also threatened not to ratify a trade deal between the European Union and Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) to pressure Brazil into complying with its environmental pledges within the Paris Climate Agreement.

But the UK is attempting to forge closer ties and Metro.co.uk has learnt that earlier this week it launched a £20 million ‘trade facilitation programme’ to help Brazilian companies to export.

It is part of a larger four-year programme in Brazil that will see the UK invest up to £80 million.

Trade Policy Minister Conor Burns visited Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia and met with Marcos Troyjo, Brazilian Special Secretary for International Trade and International Economic Affairs.

The Department of International Trade said in a statement: ‘As the UK prepares to leave the EU on October 31, fast-growing markets like Brazil will provide significant opportunities for both UK businesses and households.’

Labour have condemned Mr Burns – a close ally of Boris Johnson – for failing to speak up during his trip.

Shadow trade secretary Barry Gardiner said: ‘While Bolsonaro lets agribusinesses burn the Amazon, this week a UK Government minister has been busy cosying up to the Brazilian President’s officials.

‘Instead of posing for photographs with far-right Brazilian politicians, ministers should be calling on Brazil to do everything they can to protect the rainforest.

‘The Government must insist that Brazil honours environmental clauses in existing trade agreements and fulfils their commitments under the Paris Agreement.’

An aerial view shows a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil (Picture: Reuters)

The fires can now be seen from space (Picture: EPA)

Campaigners have also said the latest move was a regulatory ‘race to the bottom’ as the UK tries to quickly do business pacts before Brexit leaves us without our biggest trading partner.


Malaysia has offered Boris Johnson a ‘historic opportunity’ to strike a deal – provided the UK lifts restrictions on imports on palm oil imposed by the EU because of the crop’s environmental impact.

The US has also promised the UK would be ‘first in line’ for a partial sector-specific deal.

But this has prompted fears there would be a lowering of safety standards, highlighted by the potential mass importation of chlorinated chicken.

Mr Shrubsole said: ‘Brexit has increased our desire to do trade deals but it is causing us to be desperate.

‘We are not thinking about protecting our high standards or following good practice in terms of environmental protection, safety standards or human rights.’

The Department for International Trade (DIT) has said that in every meeting, Mr Burns has raised the issue of the environment and climate change.

A DIT Spokesperson said: In meetings with the Brazilian government, the Minister raised the UK’s commitment to environmental protection and offered support to Brazil in the transition to renewable energy and a lower carbon economy.

‘The UK is already leading the world in tackling climate change, going further and faster by becoming the first major economy to pass new laws for net zero emissions by 2050.’

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