The latest data on forest fires confirms what we've long feared: Forest fires are becoming more widespread, burning at least twice as much tree cover today as they did two decades ago.
Using data from researchers at the University of Maryland, recently updated to cover the years 2001 to 2023, we calculated that the area burned by forest fires increased by about 5.4% per year over that time period. Forest fires now result in nearly 6 million more hectares of tree cover loss per year than they did in 2001 - an area roughly the size of Croatia.
Fire is also making up a larger share of global tree cover loss compared to other drivers like mining and forestry. While fires only accounted for about 20% of all tree cover loss in 2001, they now account for roughly 33%.
This increase in fire activity has been starkly visible in recent years. Record-setting forest fires are becoming the norm, with 2020, 2021 and 2023 marking the fourth, third and first worst years for global forest fires, respectively.
Nearly 12 million hectares - an area roughly the size of Nicaragua - burned in 2023, topping the previous record by about 24%. Extreme wildfires in Canada accounted for about two thirds (65%) of the fire-driven tree cover loss last year and more than one-quarter (27%) of all tree cover loss globally.
Climate change is making fires worse Climate change is one of the major drivers behind increasing fire activity. Extreme heat waves are already 5 times more likely today than they were 150 years ago and are expected to become even more frequent as the planet continues to warm. Hotter temperatures dry out the landscape and help create the perfect environment for larger, more frequent forest fires.
When forests burn, they release carbon that is stored in the trunks, branches and leaves of trees, as well as carbon stored underground in the soil. As forest fires become larger and happen more often, they emit more carbon, further exacerbating climate change and contributing to more fires as part of a "fire-climate feedback loop."
This feedback loop, combined with the expansion of human activities into forested areas, is driving much of the increase in fire activity we see today. As climate-fueled forest fires burn larger areas, they will affect more people and impact the global economy.
Here's a look at some of the places most impacted by increasing forest fires, based on the latest data:
Mounting temperatures are fueling more severe fires in Boreal forests The large majority - roughly 70% - of all fire-related tree cover loss between 2001 and 2023 occurred in boreal regions. Though fire is a natural part of how boreal forests function ecologically, fire-related tree cover loss in these areas increased by a rate of about 138,000 hectares (around 3.6%) per year over the last 23 years. That's about half the total global increase between 2001 and 2023.
Climate change is the main cause of increasing fire activity in boreal forests. Northern high-latitude regions are warming at a faster rate than the rest of the planet, which contributes to longer fire seasons, greater fire frequency and severity and larger burned areas.
In 2021, for example, Russia saw 5.4 million hectares of fire-related tree cover loss, the most recorded for that country in the last 23 years. This was due in part to prolonged heatwaves that would have been practically impossible without human-induced climate change.
In 2023, record-breaking wildfires in Canada burned almost 7.8 million hectares of tree cover, or about 6 times the country's annual average for 2001-2022. As forests burned, they released nearly 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere - roughly equivalent to the amount of carbon that India (the world's third largest emitter) generated from fossil fuel use in 2022. These extreme wildfires caused billions of dollars in property damage, displaced thousands of people from their homes, and spewed air pollution that traveled as far as Europe and China. They were largely fueled by warmer-than-average temperatures and drought conditions, with some parts of the country experiencing temperatures up to 10 degrees C (18 degrees F)