Global forest loss slows but El Niño fires could threaten progress

Researchers warn that climate change and the arrival of a warming El Niño later in 2026 could increase the likelihood and severity of forest fires, potentially undermining gains in forest protection.

The EU's Copernicus climate service released a report detailing how climate change drove intense heatwaves, wildfires and droughts in Europe during 2024, with more than 10,000 sq km burned, Alpine glaciers continuing to lose ice, and record-high temperatures in parts of Europe and the Arctic. The report also notes progress on climate action, including nearly half of Europe’s electricity from wind, solar and hydropower.

In Brazil, researchers highlighted the effects of stronger environmental policies and law enforcement in slowing deforestation, contributing to the 2025 decline.

Global loss of old-growth tropical forests fell by 36% in 2025, reaching about 43,000 sq km (17,000 sq miles). The decline is attributed in part to stronger forest protections and law enforcement in Brazil, Colombia and Malaysia.

Excluding losses driven by fires, an estimated 5,700 sq km (2,200 sq miles) of old-growth tropical forests disappeared in Brazil in 2024—the lowest figure since the analysis began in 2002.

Researchers say the unprecedented fires of 2024 were helped by cooler La Niña conditions instead of warmer El Niño, contributing to an easing of fires later in the year.

The article notes that in 2024 tropical forests disappeared faster than ever before, driven by fires amplified by human-caused climate change and the El Niño pattern.

At the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, world leaders pledged to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030.