The scale of the Amazon rainforest is hard to comprehend, which makes the news that in July, a record 2,254 sq km was lost to deforestation, equally difficult to grasp. The satellite images and footage of fires consuming vast swathes of the Amazon have, however, focused the worlds's attention, to the extent that the business of this weekend's G7 summit is being overshadowed by the pall of smoke rising over Brazil. In the emotionally charged outcry that has erupted, subtleties are being sacrificed. The Amazon basin always burns at this time of year, when lightning strikes and farmers clear fields to plant new crops. Doubtless some fires have been started by farmers and loggers clearing land, but many are raging across land stripped of trees for generations – and, indeed, in other countries that share the Amazon.
This is not to contest that this year trees are being lost on an unprecedented scale, as Brazil's own National Institute for Space Research has stated, but to recognise that the relationship between humankind and the Amazon is a complex one, not easily summarised in an outraged tweet. Something must be done if one of the world's most precious habitats is not to be lost. But the world's proprietorial indignation over the rainforest must be tempered with the reality that it extends across eight nations and is a home and a source of livelihood for millions of people.
Populist Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro stands accused of pursuing policies that favour mining industries and agribusiness, at the expense of the rainforest and its indigenous inhabitants. That, he says, is his business, along with the vital task of bolstering his country’s economy. “I don’t want to finish the environment,” he says, “I want to save Brazil.” It is unsurprising that the leader of a country that threw off the yoke of European colonialism just 200 years ago dismisses French President Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion that “our house is burning” as the product of a “misplaced colonialist mindset”.
But the Amazon, the great lungs of the world, is everyone's business. As the leaders of the world's seven largest economies gather in Biarritz, there is talk of blocking the hard-won Mercosur free-trade agreement, concluded between the EU and four South American nations only last month, if Brazil does not stop the deforestation. This would be a disaster, not just for Brazil, but also for the economies and people of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The Amazon dispute is symptomatic of the wider conflict between those who accept the reality of climate change and those who do not. It is vital for the planet’s future that the gap between those positions is closed. But this can be achieved only by collaboration – not by political stone-throwing and economic ultimatums.
The specs
Engine: 2.5-litre, turbocharged 5-cylinder
Transmission: seven-speed auto
Power: 400hp
Torque: 500Nm
Price: Dh300,000 (estimate)
On sale: 2022
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
MO
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreators%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMohammed%20Amer%2C%20Ramy%20Youssef%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMohammed%20Amer%2C%20Teresa%20Ruiz%2C%20Omar%20Elba%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Fines for littering
In Dubai:
Dh200 for littering or spitting in the Dubai Metro
Dh500 for throwing cigarette butts or chewing gum on the floor, or littering from a vehicle.
Dh1,000 for littering on a beach, spitting in public places, throwing a cigarette butt from a vehicle
In Sharjah and other emirates
Dh500 for littering - including cigarette butts and chewing gum - in public places and beaches in Sharjah
Dh2,000 for littering in Sharjah deserts
Dh500 for littering from a vehicle in Ras Al Khaimah
Dh1,000 for littering from a car in Abu Dhabi
Dh1,000 to Dh100,000 for dumping waste in residential or public areas in Al Ain
Dh10,000 for littering at Ajman's beaches
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TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20WATCH%20SERIES%208
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Results:
Men's 100m T34: 1. Walid Ktila (TUN) 15 sec; 2. Rheed McCracken (AUS) 15.40; 3. Mohammed Al Hammadi (UAE) 15.75. Men's 400m T34: 1. Walid Ktila (TUN) 50.56; 2. Mohammed Al Hammadi (UAE) 50.94; 3. Henry Manni (FIN) 52.24.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
