Extreme Wildfires: A Growing Threat—and a Call to Support Indigenous and Community Leadership

The paper analyzes tree cover loss from 2001 to 2024 across Australia, Brazil, Canada, and the United States, finding that while Indigenous- and community-held lands generally have the lowest deforestation rates, they face increasing risks from extreme wildfires. These risks are driven by climate change, deforestation, and historical fire suppression policies. The study specifically notes a fifteenfold increase in fire-driven tree cover loss on these lands in Brazil and significant losses in Australia during the 2019–20 fire season. The authors recommend securing land rights, reviving cultural burning, funding community-led fire brigades, and ending land-clearing fires to protect biodiversity and climate stability.

• Indigenous- and community-held lands generally exhibit lower overall rates of tree cover loss than other land types, but a higher proportion of the loss they do experience is attributed to wildfires.
• In Brazil, fire-driven tree cover loss on Indigenous- and community-held lands increased fifteenfold between 2001 and 2024, primarily fueled by escaped land-clearing fires and agricultural expansion.
• Australia had the second-largest area of burned forest among the studied regions, with the majority of loss occurring during the 2019–20 fire season due to climate-intensified drought and record heat.
• Extreme wildfires are driven by a combination of climate change, deforestation, and restrictive historical fire suppression policies, which are largely beyond the control of the communities managing the land.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Extreme Wildfires: A Growing Threat—and a Call to Support Indigenous and Community Leadership. https://www.wri.org/research/extreme-wildfires-growing-threat-and-call-support-indigenous-and-community-leadership

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Extreme Wildfires: A Growing Threat—and a Call to Support Indigenous and Community Leadership. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/extreme-wildfires-growing-threat-and-call-support-indigenous-and-community-leadership.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Extreme Wildfires: A Growing Threat—and a Call to Support Indigenous and Community Leadership |url=https://www.wri.org/research/extreme-wildfires-growing-threat-and-call-support-indigenous-and-community-leadership |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendextreme, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Extreme Wildfires: A Growing Threat—and a Call to Support Indigenous and Community Leadership}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/extreme-wildfires-growing-threat-and-call-support-indigenous-and-community-leadership}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }