Brazil has recorded the lowest level of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in almost 40 years.
According to data released Friday by Brazil’s space research agency Inpe, between August 2025 and July 2026, 3,335 square kilometers (1,288 square miles) of forest were cleared, the lowest level seen since records began in 1988.
The figures show a decrease of almost 42% from last year’s figure of 5,731 square kilometers.
The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest and one of its most biodiverse ecosystems, most of which is found in Brazil.
It also extends into parts of Peru, Colombia and other South American countries. Deforestation and illegal resource exploitation have brought it closer to a climate tipping point.
A drop hailed as a “historic success”
“It’s an absolutely stratospheric drop… it’s like a dream,” Environment Minister Joao Paulo Capobianco told a news conference in the capital Brasilia.
“Our goal is to achieve zero illegal deforestation by 2030,” President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in a message on X.
“The figures released today are a historic achievement,” said Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the climate advocacy group Observatorio do Clima.
“They put Brazil at the forefront of the forest protection agenda and show the world that with political will it is possible to stop chainsaws and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Astrini said on his organization’s website.
The Observatorio do Clima said the figures were the result of a “sustained commitment” by the government to environmental protection, which introduced increased monitoring and tougher penalties for illegal logging.
The news comes ahead of the October 25 runoff election between Lula and conservative senator Flavio Bolsonaro, with the two neck and neck according to polls.
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Edited by: Sean Sinico
Gn world
