Extensive fire-driven degradation in 2024 marks worst Amazon forest disturbance in over 2 decades

Abstract. The Amazon rainforest, historically fire-resistant, is experiencing an alarming increase in wildfires due to climate extremes and human activity. The 2023–2024 drought, surpassing previous records, combined with forest fragmentation, has dramatically heightened fire vulnerability. Analysing the Tropical Moist Forest (TMF) and Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS) datasets, we found a 152 % surge in forest disturbances from deforestation and degradation in 2024, reaching a 2-decade peak of 6.64 Mha (million hectares). Forest degradation, particularly large-scale degradation linked to fires, increased by over 400 %, largely exceeding deforestation. Brazil and Bolivia experienced the most severe impacts, with Bolivia seeing 9 % of its intact forest burned in 2024. Fire-driven forest degradation in the Pan-Amazon released 791 ± 86 Mt CO2 (million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, ±1 standard deviation) in 2024, a 7-fold increase compared to the previous 2 years, surpassing emissions from deforestation. The escalating fire occurrence, driven by climate change and unsustainable land use, threatens to push the Amazon towards a catastrophic tipping point. Urgent, coordinated efforts are crucial to mitigate these drivers and to prevent irreversible ecosystem damage.