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Riekkinen On fires, Lima argued that the spike in late 2024 should be
seen less as a policy breakdown than the result of exceptional
climate conditions: a strong El Niño, North Atlantic warming
and two consecutive years of drought that left the Amazon
far more flammable.
He said the government has since stepped up its response

with $380 million for fire control, new prevention rules and
more support for state fire brigades and municipal involvement.
“A good year is a good year, but you need good years
forever if you’re going to conserve the tropical rainforest,” said
Matthew Hansen, a remote sensing scientist at the University
closely to shifting cultivation patterns, demand for wood fuel of Maryland and director of its Global Land Analysis and
and poverty. Discovery (GLAD) laboratory. “And we like the news from
Fires increasingly interact with those pressures. They have this year.”
consumed twice as much tree cover in the past three years

as they did between 2003 and 2005, according to WRI. Federal government allocates $12 million to B.C.
In the tropics, most fires are sparked by human activity, Forestry sector
but hotter and drier conditions linked to climate change are The federal government has announced it is investing about
making forests more flammable and allowing wildfires to 12 million in British Columbia′s forestry sector, following
spread farther and cause more damage. recent support of 1.5 billion for other Canadian industries hit
Brazil, which encompasses two-thirds of the Amazon, the by tariffs, reported from mfat.govt.nz.
world’s largest rainforest, recorded the largest absolute area Energy Minister Tim Hodgson made the announcement

of primary forest loss. But it cut that loss by 42 percent from at a sawmill in Richmond in recent days.
the previous year. Hodgson said the funding will prioritise 14 projects that
The report attributes the decline to stronger environmental use low-carbon wood technology, expand the use of mass
policy and enforcement under President Luiz Inácio Lula da timber in construction, or are Indigenous operated.
Silva. He said the investment is part of Canada's strategy to
The improvement stands in stark contrast to 2024, when diversify its wood production and become less reliant on the
Brazil’s Amazon suffered its worst drought on record, fuelling US amid its "unjust" tariffs.
unprecedented forest fires. "What we've been doing is working with the industry,
André Lima, Brazil’s secretary for deforestation control, working with provinces, working with Indigenous communities

said in a phone interview that the country’s forest policy rests on a transformation," Hodgson said, adding the goal is to
on “two agendas that are intertwined”—curbing deforestation become less reliant on commodity products.
and controlling fires. British Columbia Premier David Eby was critical of the
He said the government relaunched the federal anti- federal government after tariff relief announced in recent weeks
deforestation plan in 2023 under Lula and is now beginning omitted the lumber industry, which has been combating US
to see results. Citing Brazil’s official data, Lima said Amazon duties and fees for decades.
deforestation fell 50 percent in 2025 compared with 2022. Eby said he was concerned that it was prioritising other