Mariana Oliveira, a forests expert at the World Resources Institute in Brazil, clearly stated the devastating impact of wildfires on her nation. “Last year, Brazil experienced its most intense and widespread drought in seven decades. Combined with high temperatures, this caused the fires to spread on an unprecedented scale throughout the country. This was quite a hard year for us,” she remarked, speaking with reporters.
A new report by the World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Watch and the University of Maryland in the U.S. details the severity of Brazil’s and global forest situations. Tree cover loss data show that record-breaking global temperatures led to a catastrophic increase in forest loss in 2024, with wildfires responsible for nearly half of the destruction.
Fires ravaged five times more primary tropical forests last year than in 2023, especially in Latin America. This marked a milestone as fires became the chief cause of tropical primary forest loss, surpassing agriculture.
Images of Brazil’s widespread drought-reported by Edmar Barros/AP/picture alliance-show the severity of the issue. Brazil, set to host the COP30 climate change conference in November, experienced its worst year for forests since 2016, with 2.8 million hectares (7.0 million acres) of old-growth forest lost. Most of this loss was due to human-initiated fires, predominantly in the Amazon rainforest, referred to as the world’s lungs due to its critical role in absorbing planet-warming carbon dioxide.
Forests not only help mitigate climate change but also regulate local temperatures and rainfall, supporting agriculture, human health, and one-third of the world’s population.
Hot and dry conditions and severe drought in Brazil fueled widespread blazes in South America, particularly in Bolivia and Colombia. Agriculture expansion for soy and cattle, along with mining and logging, contributed to forest destruction.
In Africa’s Congo Basin, one of the world’s largest carbon sinks, conflict and fires significantly threatened tree cover. In neighboring Congo, fires accounted for 45% of the destruction.
The World Resources Institute’s Rod Taylor emphasized that climate change, driven by human activities, is a primary cause of these severe wildfires, creating a feedback loop where fires become more intense. Forest loss wasn’t limited to the tropics, with Canada and Russia’s northern boreal forests also experiencing significant fires, leading to 30 million hectares worldwide disappearing in 2024 and substantial greenhouse gas emissions.
Sarah Carter of Global Forest Watch noted that while fires are part of boreal forests’ natural cycle, warming climate leads to drier conditions and more intense fires even there.
Some countries managed to decrease forest loss. Indonesia saw an 11% reduction partly due to fire prevention efforts, and Malaysia’s 13% decline came from stricter deforestation laws and increased corporate commitment. These successes were aided by technology and shared data enabling near real-time monitoring of forest and ecosystem disturbances, stopping them quickly.
Matt Hansen of the University of Maryland highlighted the importance of such data despite global governance challenges, urging it to prompt action rather than merely concern.
Source: https://www.dw.com/en/extensive-wildfires-fueled-record-forest-loss-in-2024/a-72606863?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf
