Tropical rainforest loss eases after record year, but still ‘11 football fields a minute’

Tropical primary rainforest destruction slowed significantly in 2025, with 4.3 million hectares lost—a 36% drop from the record 6.7 million hectares lost in 2024, according to researchers from the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the University of Maryland. That still amounts to 11 football fields of forest cleared every minute. Elizabeth Goldman, co-director of WRI's Global Forest Watch platform, called the reduction "encouraging" and a sign of what "decisive government action can achieve."

However, researchers caution that part of the decline reflects a lull after an extreme fire year in 2024. Fires fueled by climate change have become a "dangerous new normal" that could reverse recent gains from anti-deforestation policies. The warming El Niño weather pattern is expected to return in mid-2026, potentially pushing global temperatures higher and increasing risks of heatwaves, droughts, and wildfires—threatening to undo progress.