The Amazon rainforest has been on fire for three weeks now. The world's largest ecosystem has been burning for nearly a month. Just to put in prespective, the Amazon produces around 16% of all oxygen produced on land. It is currently being destroyed at a rate of three football fields per minute.

Over the weekend, the G7 held a meeting to address this issue. French President Emmanuel Macron called the Amazon fires an "international crisis" and put the fires on the agenda for the meeting. As the G7 countries promised $20 million euros in aid for the rainforest, Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian right-wing president, was quick to reject the offer.

Brazil's National Institute for Space Research has reported at least 74,000 fires in the Amazon this year so far, there has been an increase of 84% compared to the same time last year. Traditionally, the fires were set by the country's farmers and ranchers who used the slash-and-burn techniques to clear the land and ready it for a new season of harvest. But what's the sudden increase in fires? Blame the election of Brazil's far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.

Due to the public outcry of the Amazon, Bolsonaro publicly stated that "protecting the forest is our duty, acting to combat illegal deforestation and any other criminal activities that put our Amazon at risk."

However, his campaign policies seem to indicate that his love for the Amazon is fleeting.

Jair Bolsonaro's rise to the presidency was described as one of the most polarizing elections in Brazil's history. After an economic recession under a liberal government, rising crime rates, and government scandals, Brazilian citizens felt that another party should be in charge.

Bolsonaro promised to fix Brazil's economy, capitalizing on its economic concerns. He promised to restore the economy by exploring the Amazon's economic potential. The agricultural lobby endorsed Bolsonaro during his election campaign. The same lobby has been pushing for more development of the forest.

Once he took office, Bolsonaro signed an executive order giving the Agricultural Ministry responsibility for certifying indigenous lands as protected territories Roughly 13% of Brazil is designated as indigenous land, with most being in the Amazon. Indigenous people are only 900,000 which is about 0.5% of the population. The indigenous groups have said that the president's order would lead to "an increase in deforestation and violence against indigenous people."

Bolsonaro defended his decision on Twitter saying that "Less than a million people live in these places, isolated from true Brazil, exploited and manipulated by the NGOs. Together we will integrate these citizens."

It seems that Bolsonaro is destroying the Amazon and indigenous people's homes simply for economic gain. Through his statements, he seems to be in favor of colonizing the indigenous people of Brazil and destroying their culture — and if he really wanted to fix Brazil's economy, he would've focused more on the larger cities where economic disparity is evident.