Brazil reduced the rate of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest from July 2024-August 2025 to the lowest level in 15 years, according to data from national space institute Inpe and the environment ministry.
The Amazon biome lost 5,796km² (2,238 mi²) in July 2024-August 2025, down by 11pc from a year earlier. Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon peaked in 2021, at 13,038km², Inpe data show.
The northern Amazonas, Para and central-western Mato Grosso states accounted for 80pc of total deforestation in the Legal Amazon, a region — equivalent to 61pc of national territory — that comprises nine states along the Amazon biome and basin. Meanwhile, northern Tocantins, Amapa and Roraima represented the largest proportional declines, with 62pc, 42pc and 37pc, respectively.
But there is still an expanding deforested area led by huge wildfires in the region, Inpe said. Deforestation in Mato Grosso rose by 25pc during July 2024-August 2025 from the same period a year earlier, mostly because of large wildfires.
Brazil has set a target of ceasing deforestation, both legal and illegal, by 2030, as well as to reach net zero emissions by 2050. It will host the UN Cop 30 climate summit in Belem, in the Amazon region, starting next month. Deforestation will be a key topic.
Cerrado
Deforestation in Brazil's Cerrado tropical savanna biome fell by 11.5pc in August 2024-July 2025 from a year earlier, Inpe data show.
The biome lost 7,235km² during the period, the lowest level since 2019. Environmental watchdog Ibama has increased its monitoring, fines applications and restricted areas in both biomes from 2023-2025, compared with 2020-2022, it said.
The Matopiba region — the confluence of Maranhao, Tocantins, Piaui, and Bahia states — accounted for 78pc of the Cerrado's deforested areas in the period.
Still, thanks to declining deforested areas in both Amazon and Cerrado, Brazil has prevented around 734mn metric tonnes (t) of CO2 since 2022, according to the environment ministry.
Climate alert still on
Brazil will struggle to continue reducing deforestation in coming years because of possible political issues in the way of developing environmental politics, Brazilian climate umbrella group Observatorio do Clima said.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in early August vetoed and revised an environmental licensing bill that had passed both the congress and senate, adding stricter provisions the government said could avoid hurdles to an EU trade deal.
Additionally, environmentalists warn that other federal government initiatives — such as the push to drill new oil frontiers — are inconsistent with Brazil's climate goals.
Ibama recently authorized state-controlled Petrobras to drill an exploratory well in the Foz do Amazonas basin, a promising but environmentally-sensitive new oil frontier off Brazil's northern coast and near the mouth of the Amazon.
"The same Lula that reduces deforestation levels also forces an expanding oil production in Brazil, sabotaging Cop 30", climate umbrella group Observatorio do Clima's executive secretary Marcio Astrini said.
