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This year’s fires in Brazil have been the worst in 10 years, but are they really 85 percent worse than last year? Many media reports also mention that the Amazon is the lungs of the planet – producing 20 percent of the Earth’s oxygen. Tim Harford speaks to Daniel Nepstad, President of Earth Innovation Institute, to analyse what we know about the fires.

Image: Smoke billows from an area of forest on fire near Boca do Acre in the Amazon basin. Credit: Lula Sampaio/Getty Images.