Brazil’s Amazon deforestation falls to a record low

Annual deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon fell by about 42%, reaching the lowest level since records began in 1988. The rainforest lost 3,335 square kilometres between August 2025 and July 2026, according to satellite figures released on 16 October by Brazil’s space research agency, INPE.

The decline follows renewed efforts to protect the forest. Since taking office in 2023, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has revived a plan to prevent and control Amazon deforestation. Measures include restoring penalties for illegal clearing detected by satellites, strengthening inspections and directing more funding to Amazon municipalities that reduce forest loss. The government has also supported sustainable businesses.

Márcio Astrini of the Climate Observatory, a Brazilian network of environmental groups, linked the decline to stronger enforcement and action against environmental crime.

The improvement extended beyond the rainforest. In the neighbouring Cerrado savanna, annual deforestation fell by about 24% to 5,517 square kilometres, the lowest level in a monitoring record dating to 2001.

Significant challenges remain. Thousands of square kilometres are still being cleared, while fires, logging and drought damage forests that remain standing. The new figures mark substantial progress in reducing forest destruction, but do not mean the Amazon’s wider threats have disappeared.