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Record numbers of fires are burning across the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, igniting an international row between France and Brazil over the need for action.

The Brazilian space agency, INPE, across the Brazilian part of the world’s greatest rainforest. This is an increase of 84 per cent on last year. Among the worst hit areas are the northern states, including Rondônia and Amazonas.

In the latter state, the EU’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service says the carbon dioxide released by the blazes in August . The fires have also been releasing , and thick smoke hazes have affected cities such as Sao Paolo, thousands of miles away.

The Amazon is a vital store of carbon and acts as a natural brake on human-caused global warming, as well as being home to 400 groups of indigenous people and a rich variety of species.

The escalation this week moved French president Emmanual Macron, who has championed action on climate change, to call for the G7 summit to discuss the “international crisis” tomorrow. “Our house is burning. Literally,” . The comments sparked a strong response from the Brazilian president, whose rhetoric has been blamed for accelerating illegal deforestation, which lays the ground for fires.

Jair Bolsonaro said he regretted Macron’s intervention, and accused him of evoking an “inappropriate colonial mentality” and using fake photos, without substantiating the claim. The president also said this week that , without providing evidence.

Erika Berenguer at the University of Oxford says: “We can show evidence deforestation is increasing. There is evidence of fires increasing. The evidence is there. I’d love to see the evidence that fires are being started across hundreds of kilometres by NGOs.” Berenguer says she expects the fires to continue until November.

“The past week has been really concerning in terms of the Amazon forest, there is no question about it,” she adds. Researchers in the northern state of Pará told her that they have been plagued by smoke hazes for weeks.