Deforestation in Brazil Amazon hits nearly four-decade low

Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon has fallen to its lowest level in nearly 40 years, according to figures released Friday (16 October), in welcome news for leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva days before a presidential runoff.

Between August 2025 and July 2026, 3,335 square kilometres of forest were cleared, a decline of nearly 42% over the previous year and the lowest level since records began in 1988, official statistics showed.

"It's an absolutely stratospheric drop...it's like a dream," Environment Minister Joao Paulo Capobianco told a press conference in the capital Brasilia.

The data was also hailed by Lula, whom polls show running neck-and-neck with conservative senator Flavio Bolsonaro ahead of the 25 October runoff.

Lula, a veteran left-wing leader, returned to office promising to end unlawful forest clearance by ranchers and illegal miners, which had soared under his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, the father of Flavio.

"Our goal is to achieve zero illegal deforestation by 2030," he reiterated Friday on X, after the deforestation data was released.

Brazil is home to approximately 60% of the world's largest rainforest, which plays a crucial role in absorbing greenhouse gases responsible for global warming.

The official deforestation rate is measured using the "Prodes" satellite system, operated by the National Institute for Space Research.

Deforestation has been steadily decreasing in the Amazon since 2022, with a cumulative drop of 71.2% over the four years since Lula was elected.

The figures, which have been attributed to greater monitoring and stiffer penalties for illegal logging, mark a dramatic about-turn since Jair Bolsonaro's presidency, from 2019 to 2022.

The Amazon lost around 11,600 square kilometres of forest under his watch – almost 60% more than in the previous four years, official figures show.

Flavio Bolsonaro has praised his father, who is serving a 27-year sentence for coup plotting, for having opposed what he calls a "radical environmental agenda."

At the same time, he has proposed treating the environment as a "strategic asset" and pledged to end "illegal deforestation" by 2029.

Political will

There was also good news from the vast Cerrado savanna south of the Amazon, where deforestation fell to its lowest levels since records there began in 2001.

From August 2025 to July 2026, 5,517 square kilometres of native vegetation were destroyed, representing a reduction of almost 24% in a year.

Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a network of over 100 civil society groups, praised the figures as a "historic victory."

"This demonstrates that Brazil plays a leading role in protecting forests and that, with political will, it is possible to curb chainsaws and greenhouse gas emissions," he said in a statement.