Raising concerns

Ahead of the G7 summit in France over the weekend, French President Emmanuel Macron issued a statement saying that Brazilian statements and decisions indicate Bolsonaro "has decided to not respect his commitments on the climate, nor to involve himself on the issue of biodiversity". Last week Macron threatened to pull French support for a free-trade agreement signed in June between the European Union and the regional trade bloc Mercosur after two decades of negotiations. Brazil is a prominent member of Mercosur.

Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne also expressed concern, saying "Brazilian rainforests are vital for the world's climate" and Brazil should do whatever it can to stop the blazes. Finland holds the EU's rotating presidency.

Bolsonaro responded quickly, saying that France's criticisms are politically motivated and not conducive to any solutions.

"Deforestation is taking place in protected areas, deforestation is taking place in public areas in general or even in private crops," said Andre Guimaraes, executive director at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute. And this "has to be addressed through command and control activities".

About one-third of Brazil's GDP is related to land use and about 70 percent of the Brazilian exports are directly related to agricultural commodities. What is more, the deforestation could be facilitating the fires by cutting down on the amount of rain, Guimaraes said.

The author is a freelance journalist for China Daily.