Global forest loss slows but El Niño fires could threaten progress

Global forest loss slows but El Niño fires could threaten progress17 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleMark PoyntingClimate researcherReutersLarge areas of the Amazon rainforest were still lost in 2025, but not as quickly The loss of tropical rainforests slowed last year, new satellite data suggests, largely due to Brazil's efforts to curb deforestation in the Amazon.Researchers estimate that nearly 43,000 sq km (17,000 sq miles) of old-growth tropical forests were lost globally in 2025 – about the size of Denmark.While it is about a third lower than record losses in 2024, scientists warn that tropical forests - among the Earth's most important ecosystems - are still disappearing much faster than a decade ago.There is also concern that a two-pronged attack from climate change and the arrival of the warming El Niño weather pattern later this year could increase the likelihood and severity of forest fires.The latest figures show that the loss of tropical forests fell by 36% in 2025, according to analysis from the World Resources Institute and the University of Maryland.The data comes with a degree of uncertainty, however, as losses towards the end of one year might only be detected by satellites at the beginning of the next, but scientists are confident about the overall trend.The decline last year partly reflects an easing of the unprecedented fires of 2024, helped by cooler La Niña conditions instead of the warmer El Niño. But researchers also point to greater efforts to protect forests in countries such as Brazil, Colombia and Malaysia."It's incredibly encouraging to see the decline in 2025," said Elizabeth Goldman, co-director of Global Forest Watch at the World Resources Institute. "[It] highlights how when we have political will [and] the leaders in charge who want to do something for forests, we can see real results in the data," she added.In Brazil, home to the world's largest rainforest, researchers highligh...