Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro vowed Tuesday to publish a list of countries that import illegal wood from the Amazon rainforest, saying it included many whose governments are critical of his environmental policies.
The far-right leader, who has drawn international condemnation for presiding over a surge of deforestation and wildfires in the world's biggest rainforest, vowed to turn the tables on his critics.
"In the coming days we will be revealing the countries that have illegally imported wood from the Amazon, and some of those countries are among the harshest critics of my government concerning the Amazon region," he told a virtual summit of the BRICS group of emerging economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
"I believe that after this publication, which is of interest to everyone, all over the world, the practice will diminish in the region, and greatly so."
He said the Brazilian federal police had developed DNA tracing technology capable of identifying illegally logged Amazon wood.
Bolsonaro, who has slashed funding for environmental agencies and wants to open protected Amazon lands to industry, often accuses foreign critics of hypocrisy or coveting the region's natural resources.
He has publicly clashed over the issue with French President Emmanuel Macron and US President-elect Joe Biden, among others.
