Tropical forest loss at record rate in 2024, and other nature and climate news

The tropics lost a record-breaking 6.7 million hectares of primary rainforest in 2024, according to new data from the University of Maryland’s GLAD lab, published via the World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Global Forest Watch platform.

This loss – nearly the size of Panama – equates to 18 football fields of forest disappearing every minute, almost double the rate recorded in 2023.

Tropical forests are critical for carbon storage, and the loss in 2024 alone caused 3.1 gigatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions – an increase largely attributed to fires intensified by El Niño conditions.

Five times more tropical primary forest was lost to fires in 2024 than in 2023, and most of these were purposely started, according to the WRI: "In tropical forests fires are almost entirely human-caused, often started to clear land for agriculture and spreading out of control in nearby forests."

Forests can recover from fires, but climate change and land conversion make it harder and increase future fire risk, the report's authors point out.

They concluded that tackling this issue "will require locally tailored solutions, greater political will from both forested countries and those that import commodities from them, and adaptation to growing climate change risks".

Global warming exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is "likely to generate several metres of sea-level rise over the coming centuries" and lead to “catastrophic inland migration”, Durham University scientists behind a new study have told The Guardian.

Loss of Greenland's and Antarctica's ice sheets has quadrupled since the 1990s and this is now the dominant driver of sea level rise, according to their research published in Nature.

And even if the world does keep global warming below the 1.5°C target, "sea levels would be rising by 1cm a year by the end of the century, faster than the speed at which nations could build coastal defences", the authors add.

Watch this video on the research to learn more:

China has released $194.42 million of central government funds for agricultural production disaster prevention and relief across 30 provinces, Reuters reports.

The European Union (EU) is under pressure from 11 governments that have demanded changes to its upcoming law to restrict deforestation by enforcing greater due diligence around sustainability reporting. The group of countries is requesting that the EU simplify the rules further and delay its application date.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted above-normal hurricane activity in the Atlantic for 2025, forecasting 13 to 19 named storms – those with winds of 39mph or higher.

Scientists warn that climate change may bring insect-transmitted tropical diseases – once found only in warmer regions – to the UK, following the first detection of West Nile virus in UK mosquitoes, the BBC reports.

The EU's agriculture sector loses an average of €28 billion ($32 billion) each year from extreme weather made worse by climate change, a report published by Howden and backed by the European Commission and European Investment Bank has found. The analysis highlights how farmers shoulder 70-80% of all weather-related farm losses, "often forcing governments to provide unbudgeted financial assistance".

The seas off the UK and Ireland are experiencing a severe spring heatwave, with temperatures up to 4°C above average, marine biologists warn. This could disrupt plankton reproduction and reduce fish numbers, with lasting impacts if warming continues into summer, they say.

We rely on the ocean for a variety of services from food to medicine. In this episode of Radio Davos, Alfredo Giron, head of Friends of Ocean Action, outlines how we can make our interactions with the ocean beneficial to the ecosystems that we depend upon:

There are more cows in Brazil than people, with an estimated 234 million cows to 211 million humans. The meat from these cows find their way into burgers and products as far afield as China and the US. While shifting global trade has helped boost Brazil's agricultural production, that sector risks driving deforestation in vital ecosystems like the Cerrado. Financial institutions and Indigenous communities can help scale nature-positive investment and sustainable solutions.

Over 40% of urban land globally remains under-utilized or degraded, while urban populations continue to grow. If every city reclaimed just a fraction of its neglected land, the impact would be not just local, but planetary, write Vivin Rajasekharan Nair and Gokul Krishna A. They outline how community ownership of land, for example through allotments, can engage residents to turn wasted land into a sustainable resource.

How climate data is presented and visualized has a significant effect on its impact, new research shows. This video explains why: