To burn the rainforest is a crime against humanity. Only Trump can stop it

Burning down the Amazonian rainforest is a crime against the biosphere. It is a crime against the atmosphere. It is a crime against the Earth. It is a crime against nature. And it is a crime against humanity.

For the people of Brazil, however, it is worse than a crime: it is a mistake. Those who live in the rainforest regions depend heavily on environmental subsidies and international aid. These are now drying up: the former because President Bolsonaro does not believe in them, the latter because other countries are withholding money in protest at his policies.

Bolsonaro was elected on a right-wing, pro-market and anti-corruption ticket and he has accused environmentalists in the West of wishing to reduce Brazil to the poverty of neighbouring Venezuela. Under his predecessors funds earmarked for sustainability undoubtedly did stick to the fingers of officials and politicians. But he himself is suspected of encouraging arson against the rainforest in order to boost agriculture.

Brazil’s unique ecosystem imposes on its government a daunting responsibility to the world. Some two-thirds of the Amazonian rainforest lies within its borders, taking up 60 per cent of its land. This one country is host to a third of the planet’s entire rainforest area. And these rainforests produce a fifth of the oxygen that we breathe.

Like other Latin Americans, however, Brazilians resent being lectured by much richer people in the US and the EU. They aspire to the living standards of the northern hemisphere. The West has so far been unable to find a way of enabling Brazil to profit from the conservation of the rainforest. Pumping in aid to fund projects there has failed.

Emmanuel Macron has demanded that this weekend’s G-7 summit should come up with a plan to tackle the forest fires and solve the longer-term problem of sustainability. It may be that the G-7 is a better forum than the UN and his motives are not in doubt, but so far the French President has merely succeeded in enraging his Brazilian counterpart.

Macron tweeted: “Our house is burning. Literally.” The “our” strikes many Brazilians as condescending and even imperialist. Macron did not bother to mention them, let alone appeal to their leader. Hence Bolsonaro tweeted back: “I regret that Macron seeks to make personal political gains in an internal matter for Brazil and other Amazonian countries. The sensationalist tone he used does nothing to solve the problem.”

The only Western leader whom Bolsonaro respects is Donald Trump. Indeed, the admiration is mutual. The American President sees the Brazilian populist as a kindred spirit. It impresses Trump that Bolsonaro, unlike some of his neighbours, understands that Brazil will never get rich by exporting its young people to the United States.

Only the US has the resources, the expertise and the technology to put out the fires in the rainforest. They suffer from such conflagrations themselves, notably in California. The best minds in Silicon Valley should be put to work on this global challenge.

Whether those who are preparing to protest against Trump this weekend would ever thank him for saving the planet is another matter. George W. Bush did far more for Africa than any other president, before or since (including Obama). Nobody gave him any credit.

But such a gesture would also be in Trump’s own interest. If he were to commit himself to work with Bolsonaro to tackle the present emergency, he would immediately transform his own image in the eyes of Hispanic voters. Instead of America First, it would be “the Americas First”.

Quenching the thousands of fires that have darkened the skies over the region is, of course, only the first step towards finding a sustainable model for the rainforest. Trump, like most Americans, believes in technological rather than ideological solutions to climate change. But Trump is also the master of the deal. He should tell Macron to invite Bolsonaro to Biarritz to give the G-7 his side of the story. Or simply tell him to come along anyway to gatecrash the party. The French could hardly say no. If Trump is unwilling, then Boris Johnson — inspired by his girlfriend Carrie Symonds, who tweets that it is “impossible not to feel real pain looking at the images of the fire raging through the Amazon” — should take the initiative.

Where there’s goodwill, there’s a way. As Ms Symonds says, perhaps reflecting her partner’s view: “This isn’t a Brazilian issue, this is an issue for every single one of us.” But it is an issue that can only be solved with the full co-operation of the Brazilians and their elected President. With the help of the English-speaking peoples, they can save the world’s lungs from choking in the acrid fumes of an Amazonian funeral pyre.