Satellite images show there were 6,803 fires in the Amazon during July. [Source: BBC]

Official figures from Brazil have shown a big increase in the number of fires in the Amazon region in July compared with the same month last year.

Satellite images compiled by Brazil’s National Space Agency revealed there were 6,803 – a rise of 28%.

President Jair Bolsonaro has encouraged agricultural and mining activities in the Amazon.

But under pressure from international investors in early July his government banned starting fires in the region.

The latest figures raise concerns about a repeat of the huge wildfires that shocked the world in August and September last year.