
In the tropical Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, a wealthy farming hub on the edge on the Amazon rainforest, President Evo Morales gathered with ranchers late last month to celebrate a maiden shipment of beef to China.

The Brazilian Amazon is facing its worst spate of forest fires since 2010, with news of the destruction of the world's largest rainforest last month prompting global outcry and worries that it could hurt demand for the country's exports.

Brazilians saying that President Jair Bolsonaro is doing a “bad or terrible” job rose to 38% from 33% previously, in the first major poll since the government faced global outcry over its handling of record fires in the Amazon rainforest.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday he was eager to speak about the Amazon fires that have drawn world attention at the next U.N. General Assembly in September, as the issue appeared to erode his support at home.

Brazil and the United States believe the international community should have no say in confronting fires raging in the Amazon rainforest, Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo said on Friday after meeting President Donald Trump.

President Jair Bolsonaro said on Friday that Europe has “nothing to teach” Brazil about preserving the environment, as data showed thousands of new fires were ignited on the first day of a ban on burning.

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro signed a decree to ban burning throughout the country for two months, government sources said, as the authorities scramble to defuse the Amazon fires which have triggered a global outcry.

The two most sizeable investors in Norway have told global companies to make sure they are not contributing to environmental destruction in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil.

Canada will continue its trade negotiations with Mercosur, the South American trading bloc that includes Brazil, despite demands to call a halt to the talks until more action is taken to protect the Amazon rainforest.

Weak rainfall is unlikely to extinguish a record number of fires raging in Brazil's Amazon anytime soon, with pockets of precipitation through to Sept 10 expected to bring only isolated relief, according to weather data and two experts.