: Amazon burns, Panama improvises

The fire that occurs in the Amazon, lung of our planet – generates 20% of the earth’s oxygen – is of apocalyptic proportions. This, in a world so polluted and environmentally fragile, is almost equivalent to cutting the fourth leg of a table. The tragedy is colossal from any angle that is seen. The emissions contributed by the massive combustion of organic material will make a long-term deposit in the global warming account. The president of Brazil, without providing a single test, blames NGOs for deliberately causing the fires, in revenge for the cut of funds decreed by his government. Bolsonaro’s environmental policy has already caused several European countries to suspend cooperation to the Amazon Fund, and the president of France accuses his peer of lying about his environmental commitments. Maybe we should ask ourselves now, are we Panamanians learning something from all this? Our jungle of Darién, increasingly intervened, is not exempt from suffering damages of similar proportions. The way the crisis is managed in Brazil and the response of the international community must matter to us. If we are not prepared to face something like this, it is useful to know at least what it takes to do it. We must break the vicious circle of improvisation. – LA PRENSA, August 25

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