Overview
- MapBiomas reported Tuesday that about 3 million hectares burned in the Brazilian Amazon in 2025, the smallest annual burned area since satellite records began in 1983.
- The monitoring network and its coordinator Ane Alencar attribute the decline to a delayed rainy season that limited slash‑and‑burn operations, lower rates of deforestation that left less fuel, and heightened public efforts after the 2024 fires.
- Despite the Amazon decline, large fires continued across the Cerrado savanna in 2025, showing that fire risk varies by biome and by local land‑use practices.
- Scientists warn a possible Super‑El Niño this year could prolong dry conditions and quickly raise the risk of renewed, drought‑driven wildfires across Brazil.
- The 2025 numbers relieve short‑term pressure on Brazil’s carbon sink and President Lula’s pledge to end illegal Amazon deforestation by 2030, but experts say the drop does not guarantee a lasting trend and renewed fires would harm communities, biodiversity and global climate goals.