Paris (France) (AFP) – After a record year, the destruction of virgin tropical forests moderated in 2025, partly thanks to Brazil, but remains at worrying levels, an observatory announced this Wednesday.

First modification: 04/29/2026 - 14:43

Tropical regions lost 4.3 million hectares of primary forest last year, an area equivalent to that of Denmark, according to Global Forest Watch, an observatory of the American think tank World Resources Institute (WRI) and the University of Maryland.

This represents a decrease of 36% compared to 2024, when the destruction of these forests, essential for biodiversity, water supply or carbon storage, broke a record, with the disappearance of 6.7 million hectares.

The decline is "encouraging" and demonstrates the relevance of certain government actions, said Elizabeth Goldman, co-director of Global Forest Watch, but it could only be temporary.

"The good times must last forever if we want to preserve the rainforest," Matt Hansen, a professor at the University of Maryland, said during a conference call.

Despite recent advances, the equivalent of 11 football fields of primary forests disappear in the world every minute, the report recalls.

And tropical forest losses remain 46% higher than ten years ago.

In this context, the global goal of stopping deforestation by 2030 seems difficult to achieve, since current levels are 70% higher than what would be expected, highlights Global Forest Watch.

Weak progress

A large part of the 2025 improvement is due to Brazil, which is home to the world's largest rainforest.

In 2025, under the effect of the implementation of voluntaristic policies (anti-deforestation plan, toughening penalties for environmental violations), the country reduced its non-fire-related primary deforestation by 41% compared to 2024, reaching its lowest level ever recorded.

Other countries have managed to reduce the destruction of tropical forests, such as Colombia (-17%), or maintain it at levels much lower than those recorded in the past, such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

But these advances remain weak and are subject to pressures, such as the expansion of soybeans and livestock in Brazil or the nickel mines in Indonesia that devastate thousands of hectares.

Furthermore, destruction of primary forests remains high in other regions of the world such as Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Cameroon and Madagascar.

The threat of fires

For all forests, global tree cover has decreased by 14% in 2025.

Agricultural expansion remains the main factor of destruction but the proportion of fires also played an important role in 2025 (42% of global losses), especially in boreal regions.

"In the last three years, fires have destroyed more than twice as much forest cover as they did twenty years ago," Goldman noted.

Fires can be of natural origin, but most of the time they are caused by people. Losses due to fires have been significant in Canada, where 5.3 million hectares have been devastated.

In France, forest destruction by flames was 7 times higher than in 2024. In Spain and Portugal, 60% of tree losses are caused by fires.

This threat will increase in the coming years due to climate change, which makes conditions hotter and drier.

For Global Forest Watch, the year 2026 "will be decisive": the probable return of the natural phenomenon El Niño, which tends to increase global temperatures, could intensify the risks of fires.

Future elections in several countries and international geopolitical tensions could also influence the evolution of forests.

© 2026 AFP

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