Devastating increase in rainforest loss to forest fires

The Amazon is becoming increasingly drier and hotter due to decades of forest destruction and global warming. Combined with the drying effect of the natural weather phenomenon El Niño, this once nearly fireproof rainforest is now highly flammable.

New deforestation data shows an 80% increase in the loss of tropical rainforests since 2023. The University of Maryland's 2024 tree cover loss data presented by World Resources Institute's Global Forest Watch released today, shows that the world lost significantly more primary rainforest to fires in the Amazon last year than in any other year since starting to track the data in 2002.

The trend is clear: There is a steady increase in rainforest loss to fires throughout the 2002-2024 period, with spikes in 2016 and 2024.

“It’s a vicious circle. Forest destruction and global warming dry out the forest, leaving it increasingly vulnerable to fires. The widespread forest fires cause further destruction. We need to break this cycle fast while the forest can still bounce back,” said Anders Haug Larsen, Advocacy Director at Rainforest Foundation Norway.

Too little, too late

The last few years have seen positive developments for rainforests, with improved political will in important rainforest countries such as Brazil and Colombia and increased international support. However, the new forest loss data shows that it has been too little, too late, for the rainforest’s ability to tackle an exceptional warm and dry year like 2024.

“This year’s climate summit in Brazil must unite the world in transforming good intentions into real actionsfor the rainforest before it is too late. The whole world depends on its survival,” Haug Larsen said.

The rainforest can still be saved. Through close cooperation with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in rainforest countries, Rainforest Foundation Norway has worked with rights-based rainforest protection for over thirty years - with proven success.

“In the face of global aid cuts, dismantling of human rights, and military rearmament, we now fear that nature is losing. We need politicians, business leaders, and everyone in civil society to show that we can rise to the occasion and save what is left of our vital rainforests,” said Anders Haug Larsen, Advocacy Director at Rainforest Foundation Norway.

"The forest is our natural security guarantee against climate chaos, and its inhabitants are its upmost defenders," he adds.