Burning forests are fuelling a dangerous new cycle for a hotter world

One of the most important planetary lifelines is literally going up in smoke. But there's still a chance to pull the planet back from the brink.

- David Fogarty

Without forests, the world would be a hotter, drier place. They are a key ally in the fight against climate change because they capture lots of carbon dioxide (CO2) and regulate weather patterns.

All the more reason to do everything we can to save them. But that's not happening. Instead, agricultural expansion, mining and failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions are making them more flammable.

Right now, scores of fires are burning in Canada, with smoke spreading to the United States and across the ocean to Europe.

Scientists say we've entered a new and dangerous phase as an increasingly hotter world fuels more intense forest fires, which in turn speeds up global warming. It is just one of a growing number of climate alarm bells ringing loudly.

"My worry is that we now have climate conditions where fires can destroy far more forests, far faster, than bulldozers, diggers and chainsaws. Humanity cannot afford to lose forests at this rate," said Mr Rod Taylor, global director of forests at the Washington-based World Resources Institute (WRI) think-tank.

The latest data bears out his concern. Fires triggered unprecedented global forest loss in 2024, according to research by the University of Maryland and made available on WRI's Global Forest Watch (GFW) platform recently.

Global tree cover loss reached 30 million ha in 2024 - about the size of the Philippines - up 5 per cent from 2023, driven in part by intense fire seasons in Russia and Canada. Both countries lost a combined 10.4 million ha.

Across the tropics, a record 6.7 million ha of primary forests was lost - that is about half the size of Peninsular Malaysia - nearly double 2023's loss of 3.7 million ha.

Fires accounted for nearly half of all primary tropical forest loss in 2024. This marks a dramatic shift from recent years, when fires averaged just 20 per cent of forest loss, and agriculture was the key driver.