Fire tied to 38% of global forest loss
From 2003–2018, 38±9% of annual forest loss was fire-related, and that fraction explained 89±5% of year-to-year variation in global loss rates.
Source
The role of fire in global forest loss dynamics
Study at a glance
- Design
- Computational / modelling — Hansen forest-loss maps overlaid with burned-area and active-fire detections
- N
- Global annual forest loss 2003–2018
- Population
- Global forest-loss pixels, 2003–2018
- Outcome
- Fire-related loss was 38±9% of annual forest loss and explained 89±5% of year-to-year variation in global loss rates
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Fire tied to 38% of global forest loss
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Where was almost all forest loss fire-related?
In sparsely populated parts of the boreal region, almost all forest loss was fire‐related, whereas in regions dominated by forestry, such as the Southeastern United States, Scandinavia and parts of China, the fire‐related fraction was typically 10% or less.
Did the global fire-related fraction trend?
The global average fraction of fire‐related forest loss remained stable over the study period.
What they did
Hansen forest-loss maps were overlaid with burned-area and active-fire detections to estimate fire-related loss globally and regionally, including trends.
What they found
Average loss 239×10³ km²/yr; 91±22×10³ km²/yr fire-related. Boreal sparsely populated areas were almost entirely fire-related; some forestry regions ≤10%. Global fraction was stable but fell in Amazon/Indonesia and rose in African tropics.
The limits
What it doesn't show
Overlap of fire detections with loss is not a full causal attribution of every pixel; logging or climate can co-occur with fire, and burned-area products miss some fires.
Key terms
- Fire-related forest loss
- Forest-loss pixels coincident with burned area or active fires.
- Hansen forest loss
- Landsat-based annual tree-cover loss product.
- Burned area vs active fire
- Two satellite fire detections; both used because each misses some events.
- Interannual variability
- Year-to-year swings in global forest-loss area.
- Deforestation frontier
- Regions of rapid commodity-driven forest conversion, often using fire.
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Fire-related share of global forest loss was about:
Common questions
What share of forest loss was fire-related?
38±9% (2003–2018).
Share of year-to-year variability?
89±5%.
Boreal vs forestry regions?
Nearly all vs typically ≤10%.
Global trend in the fraction?
Stable overall; regional declines and African increases.
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