Overview

• Wildfires accounted for nearly half of global forest loss in 2024, an unprecedented shift from agriculture as the primary driver of deforestation.
• Brazil lost 2.8 million hectares of primary forest, its worst loss since 2016, with two-thirds of the destruction attributed to human-triggered fires during severe drought conditions.
• Boreal forests in Canada and Russia each saw record losses of 5.2 million hectares, driven by increasingly intense and uncontrollable wildfires.
• Bolivia experienced a 200% surge in forest loss, fueled by drought, wildfires, and government-backed agricultural expansion, overtaking the Democratic Republic of Congo in tropical deforestation rankings.
• Indonesia and Malaysia reported double-digit reductions in forest loss due to enhanced fire prevention measures, stricter deforestation laws, and community-private sector collaboration.