Brazil: So little rainforest has not been cut down in 40 years

Rainforest: Brazil has about 60 percent of the Amazon.

3,335 square kilometres of forest were cleared in Brazil’s Amazon between August 2025 and July 2026. This may sound like a lot, but it is the lowest annual value since records began in 1988. And it represents a decline of almost 42 percent from the previous year, when 5731 square kilometers of forest were destroyed.

“This is an absolutely astronomical decline, it’s like a dream,” said Brazil’s environment minister Joãoo Paulo Capobianco.

Left-leaning President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has set his sights on protecting the Amazon and is seeking re-election in October. Under his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, deforestation in the Amazon had increased sharply and reached a peak of 12,500 square kilometres in 2022. Lulas wants to completely stop deforestation by 2030. He is running for presidential elections in October against Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of his predecessor.

The protection of the Amazon is crucial in the fight against climate change: the dense vegetation of the world’s largest tropical rainforest absorbs greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Brazil is home to about 60 percent of the Amazon.

Also in Brazil’s Cerrado savannah, less vegetation area was destroyed than before: 5517 square kilometers, 24 percent less than in the previous twelve months.

The data will be collected using satellites and published by the Brazilian Institute of Space Research (Inpe). Already in August 2026, authorities reported the historical low level of deforestation of the rainforest. However, this was based on another programme, which primarily serves to quickly inform competent authorities in the event of deforestation.