PORTO VELHO, Brazil — The Group of Seven nations on Monday pledged tens of millions of dollars to help fight raging wildfires in the Amazon and protect its rain forest, even as Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro accused rich countries of treating the region like a “colony.”

The international pledges at a G-7 summit in France included $20 million from the group, as well as a separate $12 million from Britain and $11 million from Canada. Ottawa has also offered to send firefighting planes to Brazil.

Other groups are contributing support for a region whose rain forests are a major absorber of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Earth Alliance, a new foundation backed by Leonardo DiCaprio, is pledging $5 million in aid, saying the Amazon is one of the “best defenses” against climate change.

The funds are widely seen as critical support, but a relatively small amount for dealing with an environmental crisis of such scale threatening what French President Emmanuel Macron called “the lungs of the planet.”

It was unclear how exactly the new money would be administered. Brazil’s environment minister, Ricardo Salles, said Brazil should decide how the resources are used.