Amazon Fires Drive Record Global Forest Loss in 2024, India Not Spared

Climate change caused massive fires that resulted in global forest loss to set new records in 2024. The report published by the World Resources Institute and the University of Maryland, indicated that fires are a leading cause of tropical forest loss. This marks a grim milestone for a naturally humid ecosystem that is not supposed to burn, according to Reuters.

Loss of tropical pristine forests amounted to 6.7 million hectares (16.6 million acres), an 80% spike compared to 2023 and an area roughly the size of Panama, mainly because Brazil struggled to contain fires in the Amazon amid the worst drought ever recorded in the rainforest. Other countries, including Bolivia and Canada, were also ravaged by wildfires.

"The signals in these data are particularly frightening," Matthew Hansen, the co-director of a lab at the University of Maryland that compiled and analysed the data told Reuters. "The fear is that the climate signal is going to overtake our ability to respond effectively," Hansen added.

According to a new report published by Utility Bidder, a United Kingdom-based comparison site for energy and utility costs, India experienced the highest increase in deforestation in the last 30 years, with a stark surge recorded between 2015 and 2020. During these years, the country was ranked second only after Brazil, with average deforestation of 668,400 hectares (ha).

Despite commitments from 140 governments, forest destruction continues at an alarming rate with about 6.37 million hectares of forests lost in 2023, DownToEarth report stated.

Much of this destruction was caused by a global demand for palm oil, soy, beef and timber, driving deforestation in the Amazon, Southeast Asia and Africa. The report warned that governments must take immediate steps to protect forests if they want to meet their 2030 goal of halting deforestation.

A February 2017 report by ISRO scientists published in the Journal of Earth System Science, as cited by IANS stated that 2,305 sq km of forest cover in northeast India and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, slightly more than the size of Mauritius, could disappear by 2025.

If a few regions can cause such massive deforestation then the unchecked forest clearing across multiple Indian cities- in the name of development- could lead to another environmental crisis. Without urgent policy intervention and stricter enforcement of conservation laws, India risks deepening its role in global forest loss and undermining climate commitments.