Tropical forests vanished at a record pace in 2024, losing 26,000 square miles—an area about the size of Ireland—according to new satellite data. Fires, rather than land clearance for agriculture, drove most of the loss for the first time, with the Amazon region facing unusually severe impacts amid its worst drought on record. Researchers warn this could signal a shift toward a climate-driven feedback loop, raising concerns some areas may be nearing an ecological "tipping point," the BBC reports. Matthew Hansen at the University of Maryland called the trend "frightening," suggesting the Amazon could become a savanna if forest loss continues, with old-growth forests lost forever.
"It's still a theory, but I think that that's more and more plausible looking at the data," says Hansen, who's co-director of the lab that produced the data. Globally, the destruction released around 3 billion tons of greenhouse gases, similar to the European Union's annual emissions. "Rising global temperatures are making forests hotter and drier, and as a result, more likely to burn," Hansen said, per the Guardian. "We have a lot of work to do to confront such a widespread, destructive, and increasing fire dynamic."
In Africa, destruction of pristine areas of the Congo rainforest reached a record high. While deforestation in Brazil and Bolivia also spiked, data from Southeast Asia told a different story. Indonesia saw forest loss drop by 11% despite drought conditions—progress attributed to strengthened "no burning" laws and coordinated government-community action. "Indonesia serves as a bright spot in the 2024 data," said Elizabeth Goldman, co-director of the Global Forest Watch project at the World Resources Institute, per the BBC. As the climate warms, researchers caution that forest resilience is in question, and that preserving these carbon-rich ecosystems will require unrelenting vigilance, not temporary gains. (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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