BRASILIA (dpa-AFX) - Brazilian government refused to accept the major financial aid that G7 countries pledged to douse raging fires in the Amazon region of Brazil.
French President Emmanuel Macron had announced on Monday that the G7 summit has agreed to release $22 million to help fight one of the world's worst environmental calamities.
But Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's chief of staff told Macron to take care of 'his home and his colonies.'
'We appreciate the offer, but maybe those resources are more relevant to reforest Europe,' Onyx Lorenzoni told the G1 news website.
'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 referring to the fire that partly demolished the iconic Notre-Dame cathedral earlier this year.
Foreign minister Ernesto Araujo also rejected G7 support saying that international mechanisms were in place to fight deforestation.
'Efforts of some political currents to extrapolate real environmental issues into a fabricated 'crisis' as a pretext for introducing mechanisms for external control of the Amazon are very evident,' Araujo said on Twitter.
The fires, which are damaging the health of millions and destroying biodiversity and ecosystems, were not out of control, in the opinion of the country's Defense Minister.
Their statements are contradictory to Brazilian environment Minister Ricardo Salles' stand on the G7 funding. He had earlier welcomed it.
Change. org, an online platform for public petitions, urged the authorities to set up a committee to investigate what is leading to the increase in fires in the Brazilian region of Amazon, and to hold the culprits to account.
According to the Brazilian Space Agency, the number of Amazon forest fires increased 84 percent this year, compared to the same period of 2018. It is estimated that there are 71,000 new fire points.
'More than half of the fires are in the Amazon, which is not only killing biodiversity and ecosystems, but also damaging the health of millions, especially the elderly and children who cannot breathe due to smoke,' the petition says.
Greenpeace France said in a statement that the G7's response to the crisis was 'inadequate given the urgency and magnitude of this environmental disaster.'
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