Brasilia, August 27: Brazil on Tuesday rejected the aid from G7 countries to fight the wildfires in the Amazon, news agency AFP reported. The leaders of the G7 nations had agreed to release $22 million aid to provide logistical and financial support to help fight fires in the Amazon rainforest. International leaders gathering at the ongoing G7 Summit in France agreed to help fight the massive wildfires that have been devastating the world's largest tropical rainforest. Amazon Rainforest Fires Visible From Space! 

French President Emmanuel Macron, the host of this year's meeting of G7 leaders, said the fires were "two times the surface area of France" and were damaging the "most important lungs of the planet". The agreement came as the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US met in Biarritz. Amazon Rainforest Fires Hit Record Number This Year With 72,843 Incidents Detected So Far by Brazil's Space Research Centre. 

According to AFP, Onyx Lorenzoni, chief of staff to President Jair Bolsonaro reportedly told French President Emmanuel Macron to take care of "his home and his colonies." "We appreciate (the offer), but maybe those resources are more relevant to reforest Europe", Lorenzoni said.

On Monday, Macron had said that leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy nations will release more than $20 million of emergency aid to help countries battle wildfires in the Amazon rainforest. He said the record number of fires in the Amazon rainforest is an "international crisis" that needs to be on the top of the agenda at the upcoming G7 summit.

Amazon Fires in Brazil

The satellite images show most of the state of Roraima, in northern Brazil, covered by smoke have shocked many Brazilians. The wildfires have triggered a global Twitter trend under the hashtag #prayforamazonia. There have been more than 75,000 fires so far this year for the whole of Brazil, compared with just over 40,000 over the same period in 2018.

As per satellite data, more than 41,000 fires in the Amazon region have been recorded so far this year – more than half of those this month alone. As per experts, the fires were started by farmers clearing existing farmland. Moreover, a data published by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) revealed that this year, there is an increase of 85 per cent in fires across Brazil, most of them in the Amazon region.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 27, 2019 09:23 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).