This is good news for the planet, but also for Brazil, the host country of the next UN climate conference, COP30. Deforestation in the Amazon fell by 11% year-on-year, according to the latest official figures, published on Thursday, October 30. A total of 5,796 km² were deforested in the world’s largest rainforest during the reference period from August 2024 to July 2025, the lowest level in eleven years.
Collected by satellites of the Prodes system of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), this data reflects the fourth consecutive decline in deforestation in the country, a cause President Lula has championed. The figure announced on Thursday is also the lowest in 11 years, and the third lowest since records began in 1988.
Efforts threatened by drought
The decline in deforestation in the Amazon continued despite the exceptional drought that struck Brazil last year. Exacerbated by climate change caused by human activity, the drought led to the spread of devastating fires. These fires have thus become one of the main causes of deforestation, according to the Brazilian government, which highlights its efforts to combat land grabbing and illegal logging, attributed in particular to agribusiness actors.
Forest fires in the Amazon
The destruction of Brazil’s abundant vegetation has historically been the country’s leading source of greenhouse gas emissions (39.5% in 2022), ahead of intensive agriculture (30.5%), energy production (20%), industry (5%), and waste management (4.5%). Between 2019 and 2023, the government of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro dismantled the Forest Code, cut funding for environmental agencies, and legalized the acquisition of previously protected land by private companies, triggering a further acceleration of deforestation.
In the Cerrado, a biodiverse savanna south of the Amazon, deforestation also decreased by 11.49%, with a loss of 7,235 km² of vegetation, according to the French National Institute for Environmental Protection (INPE).
