RESEARCH
Fires Overtake Agriculture: 2024 Sets Tropical Primary Forest Loss Record at 6.7 Million Hectares
The tropics lost a record 6.7 million hectares of primary rainforest in 2024 — nearly double the 2023 total — as extreme drought fueled unprecedented wildfire activity across Brazil, Bolivia, and Southeast Asia. For the first time in the satellite record, fires overtook agriculture as the single largest driver of tropical primary forest destruction, accounting for nearly 50% of all loss against a historical average of roughly 20%. Brazil alone contributed 42% of global tropical primary forest loss, with fires responsible for 66% of that country's loss — a sixfold jump from 2023 — as the worst drought on record dried out the Amazon and Pantanal biomes. These losses generated an estimated 3.1 gigatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, meaning 2024's forest destruction functioned as both a consequence and an accelerant of the climate crisis driving the fires.
Findings
- 6.7 million hectares of tropical primary forest lost in 2024 — a new satellite-era record, nearly double 2023, at a pace of 18 soccer fields per minute
- For the first time on record, fires (not agriculture) were the top cause of tropical primary forest loss, accounting for ~50% of destruction vs. a historical norm of ~20%
- Brazil and Bolivia drove two-thirds of 2024 tropical primary forest loss; Brazil fire-driven losses rose sixfold year-over-year amid the country's worst drought on record
- 3.1 gigatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions resulted from 2024 tropical forest loss, making deforestation a major climate feedback accelerant
Delta Engine result
↔ Divergence Detected — Δ 0.3313 (threshold 0.05)
- NASA Earth Observatory T5 68
- Carbon Brief T3 80
- World Resources Institute T0 95
- Global Forest Watch T0 92
- Mongabay T0 83
Evidence quality
avg 48 · min 25 · max 95 · spread 70