French President Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of a $20 million emergency fund to help countries affected by the Amazon rainforest fires on Monday. Speaking at the tail end of a weekend G7 summit in Biarritz, France, Macron noted that the fire area is “two times the surface area of France” and pledged that France would soon provide military support to fight the fires. Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro had earlier condemned the French president for politicizing the devastating fires by putting the disaster on the G7 agenda, calling the focus “reminiscent of colonial mindset inappropriate in the 21st century.” CNN reports that Macron did admit that France’s interest in the Amazon was, in part, because of its own national territory in the region.
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