Brazil has reported that Amazon deforestation between August 2025 and July 2026 totalled 3,335 square kilometres, the lowest annual figure since records began in 1988, according to an Associated Press report dated Friday 16 October. The Brazilian government says deforestation has fallen 71% since 2023, the period of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s current government. Reuters, citing data from the space research agency Inpe, reported the same figure and said it was about 42% lower than the previous period.
How the Fall Was Achieved
AP reports that Lula’s government revived the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon, first launched in 2004 and shelved under his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. Its four pillars are monitoring and enforcement, a sustainable economy, management of protected areas, and regulation and financial incentives. Measures cited include restoring sanctions for illegal clearing detected by satellite and directing more funding to priority municipalities that cut forest loss; AP says the government also proposed barring properties with illegal deforestation from receiving bank loans. For comparison, AP says deforestation rose about 60% during Bolsonaro’s 2019 to 2022 term, with more than 45,000 square kilometres cleared.
Márcio Astrini, executive director of the Climate Observatory, a network of Brazilian environmental groups, credited enforcement and the fight against environmental crime. He said the figures show Brazil’s goal of zero deforestation by 2030 is achievable, and that agriculture set production and export records while forest loss fell.
Warnings and a Political Backdrop
AP also reports caveats. Degradation caused by fires, logging and drought affects about 40% of the Amazon and has recently outpaced clear-cutting. Fire counts were near historic lows this year but have tripled since 4 October, the date of the first round of the presidential election, and authorities are investigating whether some fires were set deliberately for political reasons. A strong El Niño could intensify drought and wildfire risk in 2026 and 2027.
The figures arrive ahead of the 25 October runoff. Former Environment Minister Marina Silva, who resigned in April to run for Congress, called the reduction a “historic achievement” and said the election outcome would be crucial to sustaining it. Her successor, João Paulo Capobianco, is her former deputy. Candidate Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign said he defends the environment and standing forests, and AP says he has pledged to end illegal deforestation by 2029, while Lula pledges zero net deforestation by 2030.
Why It Matters
The Amazon stores large amounts of carbon and generates moisture that helps regulate weather well beyond South America, so a sustained fall in clearing is significant for climate and biodiversity goals. The same report shows how fragile such gains can be: they depend on continued enforcement, on tackling fire and degradation that clear-cutting statistics do not capture, and on political continuity after the vote.
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