After a summer that saw the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, and pictures of the Amazon burning, the new school (and political) year has begun with more attention than ever on human impact on the natural world – and more demands that something be done.

Europe did not light the fires ravaging the Amazon, but it did provide some of the matches. There is plenty the EU can do to save and protect the rainforest, and much of that begins at home.

In the first eight months of this year, the total number of fires increased by 82% compared with last year. In August, following reports that a group of farmers in Para state had, in a show of solidarity with Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, declared a “day of fire”, a total of 26,000 fires were reported that month.

The blame for the fires has been squarely placed on the shoulders of Brazil’s new far-right president, who is a conspiracy theorist and climate change denier, notoriously pro-agribusiness and ranchers, and rabidly opposed to the indigenous peoples of the rainforest.

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