Brazil orders ambassadors not to take vacation over Amazon fires

Brazil's Foreign Ministry on Monday ordered its ambassadors in Europe and other G7 countries not to take vacation for the next two weeks in order to coordinate a diplomatic response to global concerns over the fires raging in the Amazon rainforest, Report informs citing the Reuters.

The move comes after Brazil sent a circular to diplomats last week with talking-points about the country's environmental record in a bid to help respond to public criticism.

The decision to suspend vacations for ambassadors in certain countries was taken by Minister of Foreign Affairs Ernesto Araújo after an emergency meeting with President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday evening, the two sources said.

France and Ireland have threatened to tear up the EU-Mercosur trade deal, 20 years in the making, over the fires. The office of French President Emmanuel Macron even accused Bolsonaro of lying when he played down concerns over climate change at the G20 summit in June.

Some ambassadors were already on vacation and had to return to their posts, the sources said.

Strong fires in the Amazon rainforest last for more than one week, their area is 82% more than the fire passed for the whole of 2018.