Amazon wildfires: 3,3 M hectares burnt, 791 Mt of CO2 released in 2024 (JRC study)

With 3,3 M hectares of forest burnt and 791 Mt of CO2 released in the atmosphere in 2024, the Amazon rainforest experienced its worst fire season in over 20 years: these are the main findings of a research conducted by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), as part of the EU Amazonia+ programme, using data from the Global Wildfire Information System and the Tropical Moist Forest monitoring system.

The burnt area is larger than Belgium and the level of CO2 emissions is equivalent to Germany's annual emissions (a sevenfold increase compared to the two previous years): the fires, driven by extreme drought, forest fragmentation, and unsustainable land management, have caused severe forest degradation, even as deforestation rates slowed.

The study warns that such degradation could push the Amazon toward an irreversible tipping point, and the researchers call for coordinated international action: reducing fire use as a farming practice, strengthening law enforcement, empowering Indigenous and local communities, and expanding climate finance to include forest degradation…