Hotter and drier conditions driven by climate change are leading to an increasing number of wildfires in North America and around the world. These fires are growing larger and burning longer, spreading into biodiversity-rich regions once considered too wet and humid to sustain them.
According to a new study by researchers at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, the Amazon rainforest just experienced its most devastating fire season in more than 20 years. The 2024 fires released an estimated 791 million tons of carbon dioxide (approximately the same as Germany’s annual emissions), a sevenfold increase over the average of the previous two years.
The study, which was recently published in the journal Biogeosciences, found that 8.15 million acres of the Amazon rainforest were affected by fire in 2024. The research team says the surge was fueled by extreme drought linked to climate change, along with forest fragmentation and poor land-use practices. Fire-induced forest degradation has overtaken deforestation as the primary driver of carbon emissions in the Amazon.
The research also highlights how fire-driven degradation erodes forest integrity without necessarily clearing it. As a result, degraded forests may appear intact from above, but they have lost a significant amount of their biomass and ecological function.
The researchers call for reduced fire use, stronger forest protection measures, greater support for Indigenous and local stewardship, and expanded funding to address both forest degradation and deforestation.
