Fires consumed some 29.7 million hectares of land in Brazil between January and November 2024, the largest area burned in six years and almost double the previous year, according to a local study published on Monday.

According to MapBiomas, a collaborative network specialising in the annual mapping of land cover and land use in Brazil, the 2024 fires mainly affected forests, highlighting the need to reduce deforestation and control the use of fires.

According to the network, 57 per cent of the areas burned were in the Amazon region, where fires destroyed 16.9 million hectares, including 7.6 million hectares of forest.

The fires mainly affected natural vegetation, with forests accounting for a quarter of the area burned in Brazil, the network said.