Amazon rainforest fire latest: Macron insists Brazil 'cannot be allowed to destroy everything’ as it rejects £18m G7 offer to tackle blazes

His latest comments came as Brazilian officials said it would reject the money pledged at the G7 summit in Biarritz to help fight the record Amazon fires

Emmanuel Macron has told Brazil’s president “we cannot allow you to destroy everything” as the country rejected an £18million offer from G7 countries to tackle the Amazon wildfires.

The French president, who has criticised Jair Bolsonaro over his handling of the rainforest blazes, said he "respected" Brazil's sovereignty but that the country's pursuit of economic growth was happening at the expense of the “lungs of the planet”.

Addressing Mr Bolsonaro, Mr Macron said: "The Amazon forest is a subject for the whole planet. We can help you reforest. We can find the means for your economic development that respects the natural balance.

"But we cannot allow you to destroy everything."

Brazilian Amazon wildfires - In pictures

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His latest comments came as Brazilian officials said it would reject the money pledged at the G7 summit in Biarritz to help fight the record Amazon fires.

Announcing the fund on Monday, Mr Macron said the money would be released immediately and suggested it could be spent on more fire-fighting planes to the curb the blazes which are destroying swathes of the rainforest at a record rate.

Brazil did not immediately explain why it would refuse the money, but it came after Mr Bolsonaro accused Mr Macron of adopting a “colonialist” mindset following Monday’s G7 climate summit.

The two leaders' heatened row over the fires has taken a more personal turn in recent days, with President Macron lashing out at Mr Bolsonaro's "extraordinarily rule" comments about his wife.

A supporter of the Brazilian president mocked Brigitte Macron, 66, in a Facebook post on Sunday.

The post contained a photo contrasting the French first lady's appearance with that of Mr Bolsonaro's 37-year-old wife Michelle.

Mr Bolsonaro responded in Portuguese: "Do not humiliate (him)... man, ha ha."

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has engaged in an acrimonious spat with Mr Macron 
AP

In a further dig at the French president who spearheaded the G7's aid pledge, Mr Bolsonaro's chief of staff Onyx Lorenzoni told the Globo news website that the government “appreciated” the offer, but suggested "maybe those resources are more relevant to reforest Europe”.

Mr Lorenzoni also suggested the aid was hypocritical after April’s devastating blaze at Paris’s Notre-Dame cathedral.

“Macron cannot even avoid a foreseeable fire in a church that is a world heritage site. What does he intend to teach our country?” he said.

He added that Brazil could teach "any nation" how to protect native forests.

Brazil’s environment minister Ricardo Salles had initially welcomed the G7’s proposed contribution, as well as a separate £10m pledge from the UK and £9m from Canada.

Earth Alliance, a new environmental foundation backed by American actor Leonardo DiCaprio, has also promised around 4.5million ($5 million) in aid, saying the Amazon is one of the “best defences” against climate change.

Mr Bolsonaro, who previously claimed without evidence that NGOs may have started the fires in order to make him look bad, suggested the West was trying to gain access to his country’s natural resources.

“Look, does anyone help anyone without something in return? What have they wanted there for so long?” he said.

Mr Macron said the Amazon, while mostly Brazilian, is a world issue and that his message to Mr Bolsonaro was: "We cannot allow you to destroy everything."

Speaking on French TV after hosting G7 summit on the global climate crisis, Mr Macron also acknowledged that Europe, by importing soya from Brazil, is not entirely without blame for the agricultural pressure on the rainforest, saying: "We are partly complicit."

More than 77,000 wildfires have been recorded in Brazil this year
AFP/Getty Images

A record number of fires are burning in Brazil, mostly in the Amazon, according to the country's space research institute (Inpe), which monitors deforestation.

Inpe has recorded more than 77,000 wildfires in Brazil this year, a record since the institute began keeping track in 2013.

This marks an 85 per cent increase over last year, with more than half of the fires in the Amazon region hitting in the past month.

World leaders, including Pope Francis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mr Macron, have described the spreading blazes as an "international crisis".

Mr Bolsonaro previously insisted his government lacked the resources to fight the record number of fires in the Amazon.

Pope Francis addresses the crowds from his office overlooking St. Peter's Square, Vatican City
EPA

Critics have accused him of making deforestation worse in the Amazon through anti-environmental rhetoric.

Greenpeace France has described the G7's response to the crisis as "inadequate given the urgency and magnitude of this environmental disaster", it said in a statement.

One world expert on forestry Brazil needed a fundamental change in political priorities.

"The funding for Brazil's environment agency has gone down by 95 per cent this year, it [has] essentially gutted large part of the actions that have been put in by the agricultural ministry," Oxford University professor Yadvinder Malhi told the BBC's Today programme.

"So the real thing is to look at the political direction of governance in the Amazon that's changing under the new Brazilian government."

Boris Johnson with some of the othe G7 leaders
PA

Mr Macron said the G7's £18million in aid would be made available immediately and France would also "offer concrete support with military in the region".

But Mr Bolsonaro accused the French leader of launching "unreasonable and gratuitous attacks against the Amazon region", and "hiding his intentions behind the idea of an 'alliance' of G7 countries".

On Friday, in the face of mounting international pressure, the Brazilian president authorised the military to help tackle the blazes.

Brazil said 44,000 soldiers have since been deployed to combat the Amazon fires, and military operations are under way in seven states following requests for help from local governments.

On Saturday, EU Council president Donald Tusk said it was unlikely the bloc would ratify a landmark trade deal with South American nations, known as the EU-Mercosur agreement, while Brazil was still failing to stem the fires.

The following day, Brazil's federal police agency announced it would investigate reports that farmers in Para state, one of those most affected by the blazes, had called for "a day of fire" to ignite further blazes on August 10.

Local news media said a group organised the action over WhatsApp to show support for Mr Bolsonaro's efforts to loosen environmental regulations.

Demonstrators in Brazil have protested against the government's failure to tackle 'illegal fires'
AFP/Getty Images

Justice Minister Sergio Moro, who oversees the police, said on Twitter that Bolsonaro "asked for a rigorous investigation" and said "the criminal fires will be severely punished."

On Monday, a spokesman for Mr Bolsonaro said he may visit the Amazon region later this week to check on the efforts to reduce forest fires.

Otavio Rego Barros also said Chile and Ecuador had offered aircraft to help combat the blazes.

On Tuesday, Canadian President Justin Trudeau offered to send water bombers to help the efforts.

The Amazon basin is home to the world’s largest tropical forest, a vital carbon store that slows down the pace of global warming. It spans a number of countries, but the majority of it falls within Brazil.

It is known as the "lungs of the world" for its role in absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. It is also home to about three million species of plants and animals and one million indigenous people.

Wildfires are common in the dry season, but are also deliberately set by farmers illegally deforesting land for cattle ranching.

The unprecedented surge in wildfires has occurred since Mr Bolsonaro took office in January vowing to develop the Amazon region for farming and mining, ignoring international concern over increased deforestation.

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