Tropical rainforest loss declined in 2025, albeit from a record high rate, according to data from the University of Maryland via non-profit World Resources Institute's (WRI) Global Forest Watch platform.
Tropical forest loss fell by 36pc on the year in 2025, although 2024 marked a record high level, with fires the main cause, Global Forest Watch data show.
The world lost 4.3mn hectares of tropical primary rainforest in 2025, down from 6.7mn ha in 2024. Although the rate of forest loss declined on the year, it remains 46pc higher than a decade ago, Global Forest watch data show.
The drop in tropical forest loss "is encouraging — it shows what decisive government action can achieve. But part of the decline reflects a lull after an extreme fire year. Fires and climate change are feeding off each other… investments in prevention and response will be critical as extreme fire conditions become the norm", Global Forest Watch co-director Elizabeth Goldman said.
Global tree cover loss in 2025 stood at 25.5mn ha, down from 30mn ha in 2024. Tree cover loss includes primary and secondary forests, and tree plantations, and does not account for gains in tree cover over the same period. Fires accounted for 42pc of tree cover loss overall in 2025, WRI said.
Global Forest Watch focuses on tropical primary forests, as that is where 94pc of deforestation — purposeful, long-term removal of forest — occurs. Mature tropical forests are key natural carbon sinks, as well as crucial for biodiversity and regulating regional and local climate.
Countries including Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and Malaysia "reduced or at least stabilised their forest loss in 2025", owing to "changes in policy, improved law enforcement and voluntary corporate actions to limit forest clearing", Global Forest Watch said.
Brazil "substantially reduced" its primary forest loss in 2025, and the country experienced its lowest level of "non-fire" primary forest loss on record, the data show. The decrease in forest loss is linked to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's strengthened environmental policies and enforcement of these.
Brazil, which hosted the UN Cop 30 climate summit in November, used the event to put deforestation in the spotlight. It launched a fund, the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, which aims to curb deforestation by paying developing countries $4/ha for preserved tropical forests, and called for proposals for two roadmaps, on ending deforestation and phasing out fossil fuels. The Cop 30 presidency received 177 submissions for the deforestation roadmap, representing over 140 countries, it said this week.
Data from non-profit Global Canopy earlier this month suggested that EU regulation is already having an effect on action to tackle deforestation, even though it is yet to come into force.
University of Maryland and Global Forest Watch data start in 2001. The organisations' reports use the term forest loss rather than deforestation, as it is not always possible to determine the causes.
