The number of forest fires in Brazil - more than 74,000 - has increased by 83% compared with the same period last year, with smoke that is visible from 400 miles up in space
Mr Bolsonaro also claimed news organisations had exploited the fires to undermine his government, saying:"Most of the media wants Brazil to end up like Venezuela."
Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty International's secretary-general, said:"Instead of spreading outrageous lies or denying the scale of deforestation taking place, we urge the president to take immediate action to halt the progress of these fires.
But Filipe Martins, an adviser to Mr Bolsonaro, said the Amazon would be saved by Brazil and not"the empty, hysterical and misleading rhetoric of the mainstream media, transnational bureaucrats and NGOs".Fires in the rainforest at this time of year are not unusual, but environmentalists blame the increase on farmers deliberately setting fires to clear land for agriculture.
This month, Norway and Germany stopped funding anti-deforestation projects in Brazil, worried by changes to how the projects were being chosen under Mr Bolsonaro.
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