Brazil's Amazon deforestation falls to lowest level since records began
Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon fell 41.8% to an estimated 3,335 square kilometers in the year to July, the lowest since records began in 1988, The Guardian and G1 reported. Clearing in the Cerrado savanna fell 23.8%. The data comes ahead of Brazil's Oct. 25 presidential runoff.
Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon fell 41.8% to 3,335 square kilometers in the year to July 2026, the lowest since measurements began in 1988, The Guardian and G1 reported, citing data from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, known as INPE. The figure is an estimate from INPE's Prodes satellite monitoring program, G1 reported. The BBC reported that the drop was the biggest since records began.
In the Cerrado, Brazil's savanna, clearing fell 23.8%, G1 and the BBC reported. At about 5,517 square kilometers, it was the lowest since that series began in 2001, The Guardian and G1 reported. Amazon deforestation has fallen 71.2% since 2022, the year before President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office, The Guardian and G1 reported.
Pará had the most Amazon deforestation, with about a third of the total, but its clearing still fell by more than 45%, The Guardian and G1 reported. Roraima was the only Amazon state where deforestation rose, by 0.4%, The Guardian and G1 reported. G1 reported that stronger enforcement, remote embargoes using satellite images and the 2023 revival of a federal anti-deforestation plan helped drive the fall.
Conservation groups said the data showed how much is at stake in the presidential runoff, The Guardian reported. "The figure makes it clear that putting an end to forest destruction in Brazil is entirely possible," Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a climate advocacy group, said, according to The Guardian. "However, everything depends on the election result," he said, according to The Guardian. Astrini called it an "historic achievement," the BBC reported. In an interview with G1, Astrini said the numbers undercut claims that protecting the environment holds back development.
The data comes ahead of the Oct. 25 presidential runoff between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, The Guardian and the BBC reported. Amazon deforestation rose under Jair Bolsonaro, The Guardian and the BBC reported. Flávio Bolsonaro is expected to continue his father's policies if he wins, though he has pledged to fight organized crime in the Amazon, the BBC reported.
"Our goal is to achieve zero illegal deforestation by 2030," Lula said in a post on X on Friday, according to the BBC.
What we know: Brazil's estimated Amazon deforestation is the lowest since 1988, and Cerrado clearing is the lowest since 2001.
What we don't: What the final Prodes figure will be, and whether the trend will hold after the Oct. 25 runoff.
Where outlets agree The Guardian and G1 both report that Amazon deforestation fell 41.8% to 3,335 square kilometers, the lowest since records began in 1988.
Where they differ The outlets cited here report the same key facts so far.