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New York Times

For 1st Time, Fires Are Biggest Threat to Forests' Climate-Fighting Superpower

In 2023 and 2024 the world's forests absorbed only a quarter of the carbon dioxide they did in the beginning of the 21st century, according to data from the World Resources Institute's Global Forest Watch. Those back-to-back years of record-breaking wildfires hampered forests' ability to tuck away billions of tons of carbon dioxide, curbing some of the global warming caused by emissions from burning fossil fuels. Those two years also marked the first time wildfires surpassed logging or agriculture-driven deforestation as the biggest factor lowering forests' carbon-capturing ability. It's an emerging pattern that's different from the last big drop, in 2016 and 2017, which was largely the result of increased deforestation for agriculture. Source: World Resources Institute Note: Each bar represents annual net emissions of forests Harry Stevens/The New York Times Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, acts as a blanket in the atmosphere, trapping the sun's heat and warming the environment. In some places, rampant burning and deforestation have tipped the scales, turning forests into a source of carbon dioxide emissions instead of a tool for capturing them. Removing carbon from the atmosphere is 'an unpaid service by trees and forests toward slowing climate change,' said Nancy Harris, research director of both WRI's Global Forest Watch and Land and Carbon Lab. 'When we lose that function, we have to work even harder to cut emissions.'So far, Dr. Harris said, 2025 doesn't seem far behind the trend. The year started with devastating blazes across Los Angeles and by midsummer, saw major wildfires that raged across Europe and broke records in Korea. And this week, Canada is entering the peak of fire season and the country is already on track for its second-worst year of wildfires on record. Source: World Resources Institute Note: Data averaged over the years 2001 to 2024 Harry Stevens/The New York Times Want all of The Times? Subscribe.