RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Around 29.7 million hectares of land were burned in Brazil between January and November 2024, marking the largest area in six years and almost a twofold increase from a year earlier, according to a local study released on Monday.

MapBiomas, a collaborative network that conducts annual mapping of land cover and use in Brazil, said the 2024 burnings primarily affected forests, highlighting the need to curb deforestation and control fire use.

According to MapBiomas, 57 percent of the burned area was in the Amazon region, where fires ravaged 16.9 million hectares, including 7.6 million hectares of forests.

"Fires primarily impacted native vegetation, with forests making up a quarter of the burned areas in Brazil. Besides, grasslands were the most affected agricultural zone, with 6.4 million hectares burned between January and November 2024," it said.

MapBiomas is a collaborative network built by universities, non-governmental organizations and technology companies, focused on monitoring land transformations in Brazil. ■