It is encouraging that forest fires have been receiving more media attention. However, large areas of forest keep burning in many places around the planet, which the media ignore.

The climate crisis is not always the main cause of the high number of such fires.

Since the end of the 1980s, Portugal has usually been ranked first when it comes to statistics on the number of forest fires in Europe. In 2017 alone, a sixth of all forested areas there burnt down, which represented about 60% of all the territory lost to fires in the EU that year, and more than a hundred people died in local forest fires. Most forest fires in Portugal are started intentionally. Another major problem for Portugal is the eucalyptus, an invasive and highly inflammable tree, which has been widely planted since the 1980s due to its profitability in the pulp and paper industry; eucalyptus monoculture causes forest fires to spread quickly and uncontrollably. Providing information and ending passivity is essential to solving the wildfire problem in Portugal.This video was recorded in Pinhal de Leiria (Portugal) to honor the memory of the forest fire victims, as of all ecosystems destroyed annually by fires.

This video was recorded in Pinhal de Leiria (Portugal) to honor the memory of the forest fire victims, as of all ecosystems destroyed annually by fires.

Conductor: Jan Wierzba
Orchestra: mainly members of Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música
Choir: mainly members of Coro Casa da Música