Report: Global Forest Fires Double in 20 Years

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orest fires are burning more trees and covering more territory than ever recorded, with new satellite data confirming a doubling of fire-related forest loss over the past two decades.

Researchers at the University of Maryland, using Landsat imagery from 2001 to 2024, found that more than 13.5 million hectares of forest were destroyed by stand-replacing fires last year — an area roughly the size of Greece. That surpassed the previous record, set just a year earlier, by 13%. Fires in 2024 were unique for their global reach, ravaging both boreal and tropical forests on an unprecedented scale.

South America saw extreme destruction, with Brazil and Bolivia among the worst affected. Together, South American fires accounted for about one-quarter of the planet’s total fire-related tree loss. Boreal regions such as Russia and Canada endured some of their most severe fire seasons since satellite records began.

The environmental, economic and human toll is staggering. Beyond destroying homes and infrastructure, wildfires pollute water supplies, cause billions of dollars in property damage, and produce smoke linked to more than 1.5 million deaths annually.

Climate feedback loop

Climate change is fueling the rise in fire intensity. Hotter, drier conditions make forests more flammable, while the fires themselves release enormous amounts of carbon, accelerating global warming in a vicious “fire-climate feedback loop.” This self-reinforcing cycle is particularly visible in boreal forests, which store up to 40% of the Earth’s land-based carbon, much of it locked in permafrost.

From 2001 to 2024, over 60% of fire-related forest loss occurred in boreal zones, with the burned area there increasing by roughly 160,000 hectares per year. Russia endured three of its worst fire seasons on record between 2020 and 2024, while Canada’s 2023 blazes destroyed nearly 7.8 million hectares of forest — six times its annual average.

Severe fires in boreal regions threaten to transform their ecology, replacing conifer species like black spruce with deciduous trees and in some cases preventing regrowth altogether. Scientists warn this could flip boreal forests from a carbon sink to a net carbon source.

Tropical forests under fire

In tropical regions — where wildfires were once rare — destruction is climbing sharply. Fire-related tree loss in the tropics has risen by about 47,000 hectares per year since 2001, peaking in 2024 with more than 4 million hectares lost, most of it in primary rainforests.

For the first time, fires overtook agriculture as the main driver of forest loss in parts of the Amazon and Congo Basin. The 2024 El Niño intensified the disaster by creating hotter and drier conditions across much of the tropics. Almost all tropical fires are human-ignited, often as part of land clearing for agriculture, but climate-driven drought allows them to spread uncontrollably.

Bolivia, Peru and Brazil all experienced their worst or second-worst fire seasons on record in 2024, with Bolivia’s forest losses more than doubling the previous high set in 2019.

Temperate regions not immune

Though temperate and subtropical forests historically burn less, some are now experiencing worsening fire activity. Temperate forests — in parts of the U.S., Europe, and East Asia — are losing about 23,000 additional hectares to fire each year. The Mediterranean basin has seen major increases linked to heatwaves and drought, with Spain recording over 70,000 hectares burned in 2022.

Urban expansion into forested areas is increasing fire danger in countries such as the United States. The spread of “wildland-urban interfaces” — where homes and vegetation intermingle — has contributed to costly and deadly fires, including California’s Mosquito Fire in 2022 and the catastrophic Los Angeles blazes of early 2025.