AGENCIES: 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 G7 summit, said French President Emmanuel Macron.

“Our house is burning,” he tweeted.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro responded by accusing Macron of using the issue for “political gain”.

He said calls to discuss the fires at the G7 summit, which Brazil is not participating in, evoke “a misplaced colonialist mindset”.

Satellite data published by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) has shown an increase of 85% this year in fires across Brazil, most of them in the Amazon region.

Conservationists have blamed Bolsonaro’s government for the Amazon’s plight, saying that he has encouraged loggers and farmers to clear the land.

The largest rainforest in the world, the Amazon is a vital carbon store that slows down the pace of global warming.