Brazil's hard-right president has come under fire after swathes of the Amazon rainforest continued to burn yesterday.
Politicians and celebrities blamed president Jair Bolsonaro for the fires, which have escalated international concern over the rainforest which is a major absorber of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
In an Instagram post on Thursday, Madonna slammed Bolsonaro for scrapping environmental protections for the region since he took office this year.
She wrote: “The fires are raging and the Amazonia continues to burn. This is a devastation to Brazil – to the indigenous people who live there and the plant and animal species that make this the most important bio-diverse forest.
“President Bolsonaro, please change your policies and help not only your country but the entire planet. No economic development is more important than protecting this land.”
Cristiano Ronaldo tweeted: “The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20 per cent of the world’s oxygen and it’s been burning for the past three weeks. It’s our responsibility to help to save our planet. #prayforamazonia.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to use the gathering of world leaders this weekend at the G7 summit in Biarritz to “call for a renewed focus on protecting nature”.
Brazilian federal experts reported a record number of wildfires across the country this year – up 84 per cent over the same period in 2018 – and environmental agencies have pointed the finger at the country’s government for its policy towards deforestation.
Emmanuel Macron called the wildfires an international crisis.
He tweeted: “Our house is burning. Literally. The Amazon rainforest – the lungs which produces 20 per cent of our planet’s oxygen – is on fire.”
And German Chancellor Angela Merkel viewed the fires as “shocking and threatening”.
But Bolsonaro has hit back at his critics, accusing Macron on Twitter of using a “sensationalist tone” that “does nothing to solve the problem”.
