Jair Bolsonaro has lashed out at world leaders for agreeing an emergency aid package of $20m (£16.36m) to urgently tackle fires spreading across swathes of the Amazon rainforest.

Leaders of the G7 wealthy nations have pledged the money to try to halt the destruction of the “lungs” of the world, Earth’s biggest sink for damaging greenhouse gases.

But Brazil’s president accused the other presidents and prime ministers of treating his country like “a colony or no-man’s land” and attacking its sovereignty. It is not clear yet whether the Brazilian president has accepted the funds.

“Countries urgently need firefighters and specialised water bombers. This will be the first step that will be implemented immediately,” said Sebastian Pinera, the president of Chile.

“The second phase is to protect these forests, protect the biodiversity they contain and reforest this region of the world,” he added.

Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Fire rages in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonina on August 23 Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billlows from burning tracts of the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Para on August 23 AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Fire rages in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonina on August 23 EPA Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Land in the Amazon rainforest left scorched in the fires in the Brazilian state of Rondonina on August 23 AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondonia, Brazil on August 23 AFP Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Fire tears through a farm in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso AP Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures An area of the Amazon rainforest left scorched in the fires in the Brazilian state of Amazonas on August 24 AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Satellite images show a series of fires in the southwest Brazilian state of Rondonia on August 15 AP Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondonia, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures A satellite image released by NASA shows the active fires that have been detected in the Amazon region EPA Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Amazonas, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondonia, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondonia, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Amazonas, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Indigenous people from the Mura tribe wallk in a deforested area inside the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Amazonas on August 20 Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Fire tears through a farm in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso AP Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows from a stretch of fire in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonia on 23 August AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Amazonas, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Indigenous people from the Mura tribe wallk in a deforested area inside the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Amazonas on August 20 Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows from a stretch of fire in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonia on 23 August AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures A view of logs felled illegally in the Amazon rainforest are seen in sawmills in the Brazilian state of Amazonas on August 22 Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures A scorched patch of land in the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil on 20 August EPA Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Several fires are seen burning in the Amazon rainforest in this satellite image taken by NASA on 11 August AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows from a stretch of fire in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonia on 23 August AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures The sunsets behind clouds and smoke from fires in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonia on 18 August EPA

French President Emmanuel Macron said G7 countries were ready to provide concrete support to the region, as he announced the aid plan at a meeting of the G7 in Biarritz.

The seven would draw up an initiative for the Amazon that would be launched at next month’s UN General Assembly in New York, he said.

France would offer military support “in the coming hours”, Mr Macron said, adding that leaders were studying the possibility of similar support in Africa, also suffering from fires in its rainforests.

More than 41,000 blazes are ravaging rainforests in Brazil and Bolivia, many thought to have been started deliberately. The damage is so extensive that Greenpeace has described some areas as “almost a cemetery”.

Brazil has the world’s richest biodiversity, with thousands of species of wildlife, from jaguar to monkeys and frogs, while the forests absorb carbon emissions.

But Mr Bolsonaro tweeted: “We cannot accept that a president, Macron, unleashes unreasonable and gratuitous attacks on the Amazon, nor disguises his intentions behind the idea of an ‘alliance’ of the countries. G-7 to ‘save’ the Amazon, as if we were a colony or no man’s land.”

He also wrote: “Other heads of state sympathised with Brazil, after all respect for the sovereignty of any country is the least that can be expected in a civilised world.”

Donald Trump, meanwhile, skipped Monday’s working session on climate, biodiversity and oceans. Boris Johnson highlighted a separate pledge of £10m from the UK to help halt the Amazon destruction.

A spokesman for the Worldwide Fund for Nature said: “If we lose the Amazon, we lose the fight against climate change, as well a huge number of plants and animals found nowhere else.”

And he called for the UK government to ensure all future trade deals were “part of the solution, not the problem”.

Ricardo Salles, Brazil’s environment minister, welcomed the G7’s financial aid, blaming “irrational and demagogic” public policies from previous governments for the fires.

Mr Bolsonaro, who has been intent on opening the Amazon to more farming and mining, has encouraged ranchers to clear farmland and has weakened punishments for environmental crime.

As the leaders’ war of words escalated, Mr Macron savaged Mr Bolsonaro for “extraordinarily disrespectful comments” about his wife.

The French president has threatened to block a European trade deal with South America over the wildfires and “lies” over containing deforestation.

He said Brazilian women were “doubtless ashamed to read that about their president” and that he hoped the country would soon have a president who behaved according to the standards of the office.