top of page

Tropical Forests See Smaller Losses in 2025

  • Jun 22
  • 2 min read

Wildfires Still a Major Threat

Brazilian firefighter in Mato Grosso. Pexels
A firefighter in Brazil's Mato Grosso state. Pexels

Global tropical forests are under intense pressure from a combination of agricultural expansion, wildfires, and land-use change. The latest analysis from the World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Review and Global Forest Watch platform shows that while some recent progress has been made, overall trends remain far off track from global goals to halt deforestation by 2030. Tropical forests are critical carbon sinks, biodiversity reservoirs, and sources of livelihoods, yet they remain vulnerable to climate change and economic pressures, with around 94% of deforestation occurring in these forests.


Key Data Points

  • An estimated 4.3 million hectares (10.6 million acres) of tropical primary forest were lost in 2025. This was down 36% from 2024’s record high losses.

  • Much of the 2025 reduction was due to a 42% decline in Brazil, which reached the “lowest level of non-fire primary forest loss on record.” However, Brazil still had the largest area of tropical rainforest loss, given the size of its forests.

  • Forest loss in 2025 equaled more than 11 soccer fields per minute, highlighting the continued rapid pace of deforestation

  • Wildfire data from 2025 was incomplete, but in 2024, fires were responsible for nearly half of tropical forest loss. That marked the first time fires overtook agriculture as the leading driver of forest loss; prior to 2024, fires accounted for about 20% of losses.

  • Wildfire-driven forest loss in 2024 released 4.1 gigatons of greenhouse gases, more than four times the emissions from all global air travel in 2023. 

  • Despite recent improvements, tropical forest loss in 2025 remains 46% higher than a decade ago, showing that gains are fragile and uneven

3 Comments


Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
6 days ago

Qué entrevista tan inspiradora y bien escrita. Me encantó conocer más sobre el proceso creativo de Tia-Renee Mullings y la manera en que celebra la alegría, la identidad y las experiencias cotidianas a través de sus historias. Es un contenido fresco y auténtico que atrapa al lector, incluso mientras revisaba información sobre lotería de hoy.

Like

yaqian zhang
yaqian zhang
Jul 02

Some levels looked impossible at first, but Drive Mad becomes much easier once you get used to the vehicle physics.


Like

herringburdensome
Jun 25

Retro Bowl brings a familiar 8-bit graphic style, reminiscent of classic sports games of the 80s and 90s. The simple but sophisticated design helps players focus entirely on the competition experience.

Edited
Like

Join Our Community

Sign up for our bi-monthly environmental publication and get notified when new issues of The Earth & I  are released!

Welcome!

Anchor 1
bottom of page