A new environmental foundation backed by Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio is pledging $US5 million in aid to the Amazon, which has been swept by wildfires.

Earth Alliance was created last month by DiCaprio and philanthropists Laurene Powell Jobs and Brian Sheth.

It launched the Amazon Forest Fund in an announcement on its website on Sunday.

AAP

The funds will be distributed to five local groups working to combat the fires and devastation caused by them, including Instituto Associacao Floresta Protegida (Kayapo), Coordination of the Indigenous Organisations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), Instituto Kabu (Kayapo), Instituto Raoni (Kayapo) and Instituto Socioambiental (ISA).

The alliance is also seeking donations to help repair the Brazilian rainforest, often referred to as the "lungs of the planet".

A record number of wildfires were reported across Brazil this year by federal experts, up 84 per cent over the same period in 2018.

READ MORE Aerial vision captures scale of devastating Amazon fires

More than half of the fires are in the massive Amazon basin, where more than 20 million people live. Some 1,130 new fires were ignited between Friday and Saturday, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE).

Celebrities spreading misinformation

Many other high-profile figures seeking to denounce the fires in the Amazon - from Madonna and Cristiano Ronaldo to France's President Emmanuel Macron - have unwittingly ended up misleading millions on social media, by either sharing photographs of the region that are years old or images taken in other parts of the world.

"Our house is on fire. Literally. The Amazon, the lung of our planet which produces 20 per cent of our oxygen is burning," France's President Emmanuel Macron posted on Twitter, posting a photograph of a burning forest accompanied by the hashtag #ActForTheAmazon.

"It is an international crisis. Members of the G7, let's talk in two days about this emergency," Macron said ahead of the summit this weekend in Biarritz.

READ MORE Brazil's army fights Amazon fires after hundreds more flare up

But the photograph used by the French leader does not show this year's fires. A reverse image search showed that it was taken by the American photojournalist Loren McIntyre, known for his work for National Geographic.

Although the image search tool does not reveal when exactly the photograph was taken, McIntyre died in 2003, meaning the image is at least 16 years old.

Our house is burning. Literally. The Amazon rain forest - the lungs which produces 20% of our planet’s oxygen - is on fire. It is an international crisis. Members of the G7 Summit, let's discuss this emergency first order in two days! #ActForTheAmazon pic.twitter.com/dogOJj9big — Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) August 22, 2019

Leonardo DiCaprio shared the same image as President Macron, as well as another picture which proved to be inaccurate showing the Peruvian city of Puerto Maldonado in 2016.

Peru is not currently affected by the fires, though authorities are "on alert".

Actor and rapper Jaden Smith, son of superstar Will Smith, posted a dramatic image on Instagram that shows a vast forest on fire as huge columns of smoke rise from it. But the photo, which has garnered more than 1.5 million likes, dates back to 1989.

F1 driver Lewis Hamilton and Brazil soccer captain Dani Alves also both posted one of the most widely shared misleading images - the picture taken by photographer McIntyre before 2003.

Portuguese soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo alerted his 180 million Instagram followers that "the Amazon Rainforest produces more than 20% of the world's oxygen and its been burning for the past 3 weeks."

But the photo accompanying his message was taken on March 29, 2013 by Lauro Alves, from the Brazilian agency RBS, in the non-Amazonian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Puerto Rican pop star Ricky Martin and Cuban-American singer Camila Cabello also shared the McIntyre photo tweeted by Macron, DiCaprio and Alves.

While US superstar Madonna posted the same 1989 image shared by Smith, writing on Instagram: "President Bolsonaro please change your policies and help not only your country but the entire planet. No economic development is more important than protecting this land."

"We need to WAKE -UP!!" she wrote.