Amazon deforestation falls 36.87% over past year
Deforestation in the Amazon fell by 36.87 percent from August 2025 to July 2026. The area under deforestation alerts totaled 2,874.38 km². This is the lowest figure since 2016, when the historical data series began. In the previous period, the area under alerts in the region totaled 4,495 km².
The area under alert is 55.6 percent below the average for the last ten cycles, from 2015/2016 to 2025/2026.
Data from the Real-Time Deforestation Detection System (DETER) were presented by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, on Friday (Aug. 7), during a ceremony marking the institute’s 65th anniversary.
DETER also analyzed deforestation in the Cerrado biome, recording a 7.8 percent reduction, or 5,119.46 km², from August 2025 to July this year. Unlike in the Amazon, the areas detected in the Cerrado are mostly privately owned.
DETER uses satellite imagery to identify changes in vegetation cover across large areas. The alerts issued by the system enable environmental agencies to act more quickly when signs of deforestation are identified.
Among the Amazonian states, the largest areas covered by deforestation alerts were identified in Pará (987.27 km²), Mato Grosso (834.41 km²), Amazonas (433.9 km²), Roraima (272.6 km²), Acre (153.8 km²), and Rondônia (114.3 km²).
Compared with the previous cycle, alerts fell by 25.5 percent in Pará, 49 percent in Mato Grosso, 46.7 percent in Amazonas, 35.3 percent in Acre, and 41.2 percent in Rondônia. In Roraima, alerts increased by 32.5 percent.
Deforestation
Deforestation across Brazil declined by 20.1 percent in 2025 compared with 2024.
The downward trend was recorded across all of the country’s biomes, with the largest drop in the Pantanal, where deforestation fell by 65.4 percent from the previous year. The Pampa followed, with a 41.7 percent reduction.
The Caatinga saw a 34.3 percent decline, followed by the Amazon at 15.8 percent and the Cerrado at 11.5 percent.
The data come from the Project for Monitoring Deforestation in the Legal Amazon by Satellite (PRODES), developed by INPE.
PRODES calculates the consolidated annual deforestation rate, serving as the official benchmark for measuring changes in vegetation loss over time.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who attended the event, commented on the data. In his remarks, he noted that the US government had cited deforestation in Brazil as a justification for imposing additional tariffs on Brazilian exports.
Lula then said he wanted to take a photo at the event, with the data showing the decline in deforestation in the background, to “send to Trump.”
“I came here to make INPE’s 65th anniversary a banner in the fight against the punitive tariffs imposed by the United States on Brazil. From now on, every letter we send to the United States will include INPE’s data,” the president stated.
Lula also said that “no one - not even the United States - takes the climate issue as seriously as Brazil does.”
Reaction
In a statement, the Climate Observatory welcomed the DETER data.
“The figures presented today are historic; they are the result of serious environmental protection policies and prove that it is entirely possible to fulfill the country’s commitment to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030,” said Marcio Astrini, the organization’s executive secretary.
The Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) also considers the figures significant to achieving the goal of zero deforestation in the region.
“The DETER data indicate a consolidation of the reduction in deforestation in the Amazon, which is very positive. We have the lowest rate recorded by Prodes since measurements began,” said Ane Alencar, IPAM’s director of science.
“This shows that the country can indeed stay on a path toward zero deforestation. It demonstrates that reducing deforestation in the Amazon is possible, despite challenges such as climate change and El Niño,” says the IPAM director.
