North America is close on the heels of Latin America when it comes to tree cover loss, according to data published by the World Resources Institute, Statista reports. Where Latin America lost a total of 127mn hectares of trees between 2001 and 2024, North America lost 112mn hectares. It was followed by Asia with 107mn hectares.

However, the drivers of such tree cover loss vary greatly depending on the region of the world. For example, in Latin America and Southeast Asia, 73% and 66%, respectively, of tree cover loss is estimated to have been driven by permanent agriculture. In Africa, the two main competing drivers are shifting cultivation (49%) and permanent agriculture (43%). Meanwhile, wildfires and logging are the main drivers in North America (50% wildfires, 45% logging), Asia (63% wildfires, 29% logging) and Oceania (57% wildfires, 27% logging). Europe stands out for being the only region where logging is by far the major driver of tree cover loss, accounting for 91%.

The forest monitoring platform says that not all types of tree cover loss are deforestation and groups tree cover loss under two categories: permanent and temporary. Permanent loss is caused by permanent agriculture, settlements and infrastructure and hard commodities. Temporary tree cover loss includes logging, wildfire, shifting cultivation and other natural disturbances.

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Primary forest loss hit record highs in 2024, driven largely by fires, according to data from the World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Review. Last year, the tropics lost 6.7mn hectares of primary rainforest, akin to an area nearly the size of Panama.

Primary tropical forests are areas of key importance for livelihoods, carbon storage, water provision and biodiversity. According to the forest monitoring platform, the loss of primary tropical forests in 2024 generated 3.1 gigatonnes (Gt) of greenhouse gas emissions, which is roughly equivalent to India's annual emissions from fossil fuels.

While fires are naturally occurring in some ecosystems, they are almost entirely human-caused in tropical forests and are often started to clear land for agriculture. WRI analysts explain that the particularly dry conditions of 2024, largely caused by climate change, led to particularly widespread fires.

The top countries for tropical primary forest loss in 2024 were Brazil, Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia and Peru.

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