The planet lost a record amount of forests last year, largely because of fires that raged around the world, data shows.

Loss of pristine rainforests alone reached 16.5 million acres in 2024, nearly twice as much as in 2023, researchers at the University of Maryland and the World Resources Institute said in an annual update of the state of the world’s forests.

The world lost the equivalent of 18 soccer fields of forested land every minute, the researchers estimated.

For the first time since record keeping began, fires, not agriculture, were the leading cause of rainforest loss, accounting for nearly half of all destruction. Those fires emitted 4.1 gigatons of planet-warming greenhouse gasses, which is more than four times the emissions from air travel in 2023, the researchers said.

Still, land clearing for agriculture, cattle farming and other causes rose by 14%, which was the sharpest increase seen in almost a decade.

— The New York Times