The world’s forests are burning faster than they can recover, according to new global data, as wildfires become an increasingly dominant force behind forest loss across continents.

An interactive analysis published by The Guardian shows that wildfires are now destroying more than 360 square kilometres of forest every day, an area larger than Malta. In 2024 alone, fires wiped out over 134,000 square kilometres of forest, exceeding the size of England. Over the past 24 years, nearly 1.5 million square kilometres of forest, roughly the size of Mongolia, have been lost to fire.

The data reveals a troubling shift. While wildfires have always been part of natural cycles, today they are spreading into regions that historically rarely burned. The Amazon rainforest in Brazil and Bolivia, Canada’s boreal forests, Russia’s far north reaching the Arctic Circle, and Australia’s fire-prone landscapes have suffered the heaviest losses. In these areas, carbon-rich forests are being turned from climate buffers into carbon sources, releasing vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Many of these ecosystems evolved to resist fire, leaving them poorly equipped to recover from repeated burning.

Scientists attribute the surge to rising global temperatures, prolonged droughts and increasingly extreme heat, all linked to climate change. As forests dry out, fire seasons grow longer and more destructive.

Beyond the loss of trees, the consequences are profound. Forests that once absorbed carbon are now releasing it back into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming. Smoke from large fires drifts across borders, affecting air quality and human health, while communities face displacement, economic strain and growing uncertainty.

The effect that this will have is not just environmental, it is personal. Smoke drifts into cities, homes are abandoned, livelihoods destroyed, and entire communities are forced to watch landscapes they have known for generations vanish in flames. Experts warn that without urgent action to reduce emissions and improve land management, forests may continue to disappear, not quietly, but in flames.