Forest fires along the Amazon River have burned record areas
The losses of tropical virgin forests alone are 6.7 million HKA, which is an increase of 80%, compared to 2023. This is a territory that is approximately equal to the area of Panama.
| Brazil, who hosts the next world climate meeting in November, is struggling to suppress fires in equatorial forests by Amazon Riverin the midst of the heaviest drought ever registered in this region. A huge number of other countries, including Bolivia and Canada, were also killed by the fires. |
For the first in an annual report published by the World Resources Institute, the University of Maryland cited fires as the main reason for the loss of tropical forests, an alarming finding of a moist ecosystem, which is not supposed to be burning.
The second largest tributary of the Amazon River is unprecedented because of heavy drought
« The signals of these data are really scary, » said Matthew Hanson, director of the University of Maryland, who collects and analyzes the data. « Our fears are that these climate signals will surpass our ability to respond effectively. »
Latin America is very severely affected, according to the report, with the Amazon Forest Biome at the highest point of forests from 2016.
Brazil, which has the largest share of tropical forests in the world, has lost 2.8 million HKA, most of all other countries. This is a turning back from progress reached in 2023, when President Luis Inasio Lula to Silva took office, promising to protect the largest rain forest in the world.
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It was unprecedented, which means that we must adapt our whole policy to the new realities.
Andre Limais responsible for the deforestation control policies in the Brazilian Ministry of Environment.
According to him, fires, which have never been among the leading causes of forests, have become a top priority for the government.
Bolivia surpassed Congo as the second country with the largest loss of tropical forests, although there are less than half in terms of forests than the African country, which also suffered huge losses last year.
Conflicts in Colombia and DR Congo have also led to large -scale deforestation, as armed groups operate natural resources.
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In addition to the tropics, the borial forests that developed with periodic fires also noted record losses of trees in 2024. Canada and Russia lost 5.2 million hectares each as forest fires went out of control.
| Southeast Asia stood out from the global trend – Malaysia, Laos and Indonesia reported a two -digit decline in the loss of primary forests, thanks to internal protection policies, as well as efforts on the part of the communities and the private sector. They continue to effectively limit fires and expansion of agriculture. |
Another positive example was the territory of the indigenous population Charagua Yyambay in southern Bolivia, which managed to limit record fires in the country through land use policies and early warning systems.
Rod Taylor, Global Forestry Director at the World Resources Institute (WRI), said that when leaders gather in the Amazon city of Belen for the next climate meeting, he would like to see progress in the creation of better nature conservation mechanisms.
« At the moment, I’m more afraid of cutting down forests than for their conservation, » Taylor said.
