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Tropical forests destroyed at fastest recorded rate in 2024

 

Getty Images Aerial shot of dense green rainforest with thick clouds of smoke rising up into the air

The world's tropical forests, which provide a crucial buffer against climate change, disappeared faster than ever recorded last year, new satellite analysis suggests.

Researchers estimate that 67,000 sq km (26,000 sq mi) of these pristine, old-growth forests were lost in 2024 – an area nearly as large as the Republic of Ireland, or 18 football pitches a minute.

US Reverses Course under Trump and other Countries follow suit, threatening the Planet - 2025

How Trump's 'drill, baby, drill' pledge is affecting other countries

Getty Images US President Donald Trump points after speaking during the Unleashing American Energy event at the Department of Energy in Washington DC, US

Trump has said the US's oil and gas will be sold all over the world

The UN climate summit in the United Arab Emirates in 2023 ended with a call to "transition away from fossil fuels". It was applauded as a historic milestone in global climate action.

Chlamydia could make koalas extinct. 2024

Chlamydia could make koalas extinct. Can a vaccine save them in time?

Tiffanie Turnbull/BBC A drowsy koala wrapped in a towel and held by a vet

Joe Mangy is one of thousands of koalas treated for chlamydia each year

On the table, unconscious and stretched out on a pillow, Joe Mangy looks deceptively peaceful. The koala's watery, red-rimmed eyes are the only sign of the disease at war with his body.

Tubes snarl out of a mask covering his face as a vet tech listens to his chest with a stethoscope. He is not healing as well as they had hoped.