Amazon deforestation hits lowest level since 1988

Brazil’s government announced yesterday that annual deforestation in the Amazon fell to its lowest level since records began in 1988. Official satellite data showed the rainforest lost 3,335 square kilometres (1,300 square miles) from August 2025 through July 2026, the period used to calculate the annual rate.

The data underscore the success of Brazil’s renewed efforts under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to curb Amazon deforestation, reversing a surge under his predecessor, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

During Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency, from 2019 to 2022, Amazon deforestation surged by about 60 per cent, with more than 45,000 square kilometres (17,400 square miles) cleared, according to official data. Under Lula, deforestation has fallen 71 per cent since 2023, the government said.

One of Lula’s first moves after taking office in January 2023 for a third, non-consecutive term was to revive the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon, known by its Portuguese acronym, PPCDAm. Launched in 2004 during his first administration, the plan had been shelved under Bolsonaro.

Lula brought back the environmental officials who developed the blueprint two decades earlier, appointing environmental champion Marina Silva – who led the Environment Ministry until she resigned in April to run for Congress – and João Paulo Capobianco, her former deputy and the current minister, to help carry it out.

The plan has four pillars: strengthening monitoring and enforcement; promoting a sustainable economy; managing protected areas and determining how undesignated public forests should be used; and using regulations and financial incentives to curb deforestation.

Measures included restoring sanctions for illegal forest clearing detected by satellites, a practice seen as the most effective tool to curb deforestation that was halted under Bolsonaro. The government also proposed barring properties with illegal deforestation from receiving bank loans and allocated more funding to priority Amazon municipalities that demonstrated reductions in forest loss. It also funded efforts to fight environmental crime and develop subsidised credit for sustainable businesses in the Amazon.

“The formula is always the same, and it works. We saw it work in Brazil years ago and we’re seeing it again now: determination, enforcement on the ground, fighting crime and enforcing the law,” said Márcio Astrini, executive director of the Climate Observatory, a Brazilian network of environmental groups.

Astrini added that the deforestation rates announced Friday show that Brazil’s pledge to reach zero deforestation by 2030 is achievable without compromising the country’s economy.

“Agriculture has been setting production and export records while deforestation has fallen. Today’s figures disprove the false narrative that protecting the environment holds back Brazil’s development,” he added.

Deforestation and other land-use changes are Brazil’s largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, which drive global warming. The stakes are especially high in the Amazon, which stores vast amounts of carbon dioxide and generates atmospheric moisture that helps regulate weather far beyond South America.