OPINION: Unfortunately, the Amazon isn’t the only forest fire story

The damage from fires burning across the Amazon in recent days has made global headlines. A complex combination of a changing climate, policies and conversion of scrub and trees to agricultural land has turned the world’s largest tract of tropical forest into a tinderbox.

For now, the world’s attention has turned briefly to the environmental crisis in the Amazon. This month there were four times the number of media stories about forests, fires and climate change than in January. The Brazilian fires have even made it onto the agenda of the Group of Seven industrialized nations’ meeting last week, with French President Emanuel Macron pushing for a deal to provide technical and financial help.