FILE PHOTO: A view of a farm near a forest fire in the Amazon in an area of the Trans-Amazonian Highway BR230 in Labrea, Amazonas state, Brazil September 4, 2024. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly/File Photo
SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Massive fires fueled by climate change led global forest loss to smash records in 2024, according to a report issued on Wednesday.
Loss of tropical pristine forests alone reached 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, the host of the next global climate summit in November, struggled to contain fires in the Amazon amid the worst drought ever recorded in the rainforest. A myriad of other countries, including Bolivia and Canada, were also ravaged by wildfires.
