Overview
- Official satellite data published by Brasília show 3,335 square kilometres of Amazon forest were cleared between August 2025 and July 2026, a decline of about 42 percent from the prior year.
- Environment Minister João Paulo Capobianco called the fall “an absolutely astronomical decline” and the government credits renewed enforcement and protection efforts for the drop.
- The figures are being used in President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s re‑election campaign as evidence that deforestation has been reversed after sharp rises under Jair Bolsonaro, who saw a 2022 peak near 12,500 km² and more than 45,000 km² lost across 2019–2022.
- Protecting the Amazon matters for the climate because Brazil contains roughly 60 percent of the basin and the forest soaks up large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.
- The data come from a satellite monitoring system that has tracked Amazon loss since 1988 and will shape policy and international scrutiny as the government pursues its goal of zero illegal deforestation by 2030.