Northern fires caused almost a quarter of global forest loss

Forest destruction: A fire fighter tackles a blaze in the Tokai forest in Cape Town, South Africa. Raging fires have destroyed much of the world’s forests. Photo: EPA

Forest fires destroyed vast areas of woodland in Canada and Russia between 2011 and 2013, greatly contributing to greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, satellite data reveals.

Vast areas of forest in Canada and Russia were lost to fire in 2013, according to new satellite data. But there were encouraging signs from Indonesia, where the loss of forest cover fell to the lowest level in a decade.