Fires destroy rainforests

Human-created fires are a brutal deforestation tool, started intentionally to clear large swaths of tropical forest and convert it to agricultural land, such as cattle pastures or fruit and oil palm plantations.

This technique—called “slash-and-burn”—often results in fires that rage beyond the intended boundaries, burning uncontrollably in some of the planet’s most critical rainforests. These fires can last for weeks, displacing Indigenous communities, destroying biodiversity and releasing carbon into the atmosphere.