Brazil says it lacks resources to fight Amazon wildfires as dispute rages over who is to blame

The Brazilian Government lacks the resources to fight a record number of wildfires burning in the Amazon rainforest, President Jair Bolsonaro said, weeks after telling donors he did not need their money.

Fires in the Amazon have surged 83 per cent so far this year.

The growing threat to what some call "the lungs of the planet" has ignited a bitter dispute about who is to blame during the tenure of a leader who described Brazil's rainforest protections as an obstacle to economic development.

"The Amazon is bigger than Europe, how will you fight criminal fires in such an area?" Mr Bolsonaro asked reporters as he left the presidential residence. 

"We do not have the resources for that."

Read the ABC News story - “Brazil says it lacks resources to fight Amazon wildfires as dispute rages over who is to blame.”