Fires in the Amazon drive record-shattering global forest losses in 2024

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: May 21, 2025 3:37 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

Massive fires fuelled by clime alteration led planetary wood nonaccomplishment to smash records successful 2024, according to a study issued connected Wednesday. 

Loss of tropical pristine forests unsocial reached 6.7 cardinal hectares (16.6 cardinal acres), an country astir the size of Panama, marking an 80 per cent spike compared to 2023. One of the cardinal drivers of these staggering numbers was Brazil, the big of the adjacent planetary clime acme successful November, struggling to incorporate fires successful the Amazon amid the worst drought ever recorded successful the rainforest. 

According to the data, issued by the World Resources Institute and the University of Maryland, the complaint of tropical superior wood nonaccomplishment successful 2024 was the equivalent of losing 18 shot fields of trees per minute. 

Canada and Bolivia, on with myriad different countries, were besides connected the database of those ravaged by wildfires, with some tropical and boreal forests seeing immense impacts from fires. 

It was the archetypal clip the yearly study showed fires arsenic the starring origin of tropical wood loss, a grim milestone for a people humid ecosystem that is not expected to burn.

"The signals successful these information are peculiarly frightening," said Matthew Hansen, the co-director of a laboratory astatine the University of Maryland that compiled and analyzed the data. "The fearfulness is that the clime awesome is going to overtake our quality to respond effectively."

Globally, researchers estimated that much than 4.1 gigatonnes of greenhouse gases were released owed to wood fires past twelvemonth — much than 4 times the emissions released from aerial question successful 2023. 

Bolivia overtook the Democratic Republic of Congo arsenic the 2nd state with the astir tropical wood nonaccomplishment contempt having little than fractional the magnitude of wood arsenic the African nation, which besides saw a spike successful wood nonaccomplishment past year.

Bolivia's wood nonaccomplishment surged by 200 per cent successful 2024, with a drought, wildfires and a government-incentivized cultivation enlargement arsenic the starring causes. In regions afloat of tropical forests, occurrence is utilized to wide lands for cultivation expansion, sometimes cutting into protected areas oregon causing amerciable deforestation. 

One portion successful confederate Bolivia bucked the inclination of wood loss: Charagua Iyambae, a protected, autonomous Indigenous territory, which was capable to support the country's grounds fires astatine bay done land-use policies and aboriginal informing systems.

The Charagua Iyambae portion includes 5 cardinal hectares of forest, and caller extortion laws person strengthened the Guaraní Indigenous people's absorption of the lands, allowing them to amended defy cultivation expansion. 

Southeast Asia besides saw glimmers of hope, with Malaysia, Laos, and Indonesia each posting double-digit decreases successful superior wood nonaccomplishment — thing the study credits to home conservation policy, combined with efforts by communities and the backstage sector, efficaciously containing fires and cultivation expansion.

Countries deed hard by fires

Latin America was deed peculiarly hard, the study said, with the Amazon biome hitting its highest level of superior wood nonaccomplishment since 2016.

Brazil, which holds the largest stock of the world's tropical forests, mislaid 2.8 cardinal hectares (6.9 cardinal acres), the astir of immoderate country. It was a reversal of the advancement made successful 2023 erstwhile President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took bureau promising to support the world's largest rainforest.

"This was unprecedented, which means we person to accommodate each our argumentation to a caller reality," said Andre Lima, who oversees deforestation power policies for Brazil's Ministry of Environment, adding that fire, which was ne'er among the starring causes of wood loss, is present a apical precedence for the government.

Increased wood nonaccomplishment successful Mexico, Peru, Nicaragua, and Guatemala was spurred mostly by wildfires and fires started for cultivation expansion, the study found. Conflicts successful Colombia and the Democratic Republic of Congo besides boosted deforestation rates, arsenic equipped groups utilized up earthy resources.

5.2 cardinal hectares successful Canada

Outside the tropics, boreal forests, which evolved with seasonal fires, besides posted record-high histrion nonaccomplishment successful 2024, the information showed, with Canada and Russia each losing 5.2 cardinal hectares (12.8 cardinal acres) successful 2024 arsenic wildfires got retired of control.

It's portion of a dismal inclination for Canada. Data from the World Resources Institute published past twelvemonth recovered that Canada's devastating 2023 wildfire play accounted for much than fractional of that year's planetary wood nonaccomplishment owed to fire. 

WATCH | Fires successful Canada drove wood nonaccomplishment successful 2023: 

In 2021, much than 140 satellite leaders, including Canada, signed the Glasgow Leaders Declaration reaffirming a committedness to halt and reverse wood nonaccomplishment by 2030. But this caller information suggests the planetary assemblage is acold disconnected way successful achieving that goal. 

Rod Taylor, the planetary manager for forests astatine the WRI, said that arsenic leaders descend connected the Amazonian metropolis of Belem for the adjacent clime summit, helium would similar to spot countries marque advancement successful introducing amended backing mechanisms for conservation.

"At the moment," helium said, "there's much wealth to beryllium paid by chopping forests down than keeping them standing."