Burned areas in Brazil down 65.8% in first half of year
From January to June 2025, fires consumed about 1 million hectares across all Brazilian biomes—one-third of the area affected during the same period last year, when 3.1 million hectares burned.
The data come from the Laboratory for Environmental Satellite Applications (Lasa) at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and were released by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.
In the first six months of the year, the Pantanal saw a 97.8 percent reduction in burned area: 607,900 hectares were affected in 2024, compared to 13,400 hectares this year. In the Amazon, the reduction was 75.4 percent.
The Atlantic Forest and the Cerrado also saw declines in fire-affected areas, with reductions of 69.7 percent and 47 percent, respectively.
In the Pampa and Caatinga, however, fires increased by 38.2 percent and 10.2 percent, respectively, compared to the same period in 2024.
Intensified actions
According to the ministry, climate change intensifies conditions that favor fires, which is why actions to combat them have been strengthened.
“Preventing and fighting fires is an absolute priority for President Lula’s government, which over the past year has worked tirelessly with states, municipalities, academia, the private sector, and civil society to implement a fire governance model that meets the challenge posed by global warming,” says a note from the ministry.
Among the actions highlighted by the Brazilian government are a 26 percent increase in the number of firefighters across all biomes, adding 4,385 professionals to the 2024 contingent; the allocation of BRL 405 million from the Amazon Fund to support fire departments in the Legal Amazon; and the creation of the National Policy for Integrated Fire Management, which strengthens coordination among governments, social organizations, and the private sector.
