Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon Falls to Lowest on Record in 2025/26
Satellite data show forest loss fell 42% from a year earlier as Lula’s government restored enforcement and sanctions against illegal clearing.
- On Friday, the Brazilian space research agency Inpe reported that Amazon deforestation reached its lowest level since 1988, with 3,335 square kilometers destroyed in the 12 months through July, down about 42%.
- Under former President Jair Bolsonaro, deforestation surged about 60% from 2019 to 2022; President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reversed this by reviving the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in January 2023.
- Government measures restored sanctions for illegal forest clearing and restricted bank loans to properties with illegal deforestation. Climate Observatory executive director Márcio Astrini said the results disprove the "false narrative" that protecting the environment holds back Brazil's economy.
- Fire counts across the biome have tripled since October 4, when Brazilians voted in the first election round. Lula and Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro face an October 25 runoff with starkly different visions for the rainforest.
- A strong El Niño could intensify threats in 2026 and 2027 by bringing hotter, drier conditions that fuel wildfires, complicating Brazil's pledge to reach zero net deforestation by 2030.
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The deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen to the lowest level since the beginning of the 1988 records. The government regards the decline as a success of President Lula's protection efforts, which is currently in the election campaign.
The Brazilian government has released historical data: Amazonia and Cerrado have never recorded so little deforestation. Para, Mato Grosso and Amazonas lead the remaining losses.
<p>In Brazil, the deforestation of the Amazon has fallen to the lowest level in the history of observations, for which the president is praised. In a year, the Amazon deforestation has decreased to 3,335 km², the minimum since 1988. At the same time, there were 253% more fires in the state of Amazonas.</p>
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