Brazil has cut the destruction of its share of the Amazon to a level not seen in almost four decades of satellite monitoring. Figures from the national space research institute Inpe, published on Friday, show that 3,335 square kilometres of rainforest were cleared between August 2025 and July 2026.
That is a fall of 41.8 percent compared with the previous twelve months, when 5,731 square kilometres disappeared. It is also the smallest annual loss since the PRODES programme began counting in 1988. The old low dated from 2012, at 4,571 square kilometres, while in the mid-1990s close to 30,000 square kilometres were lost in a single year. Inpe counts from August to July since the drier months offer clearer satellite pictures with fewer clouds in the way.
Most of the remaining clearing happened in three states: Pará with 1,130 square kilometres, Mato Grosso with 849 and Amazonas with 525. The Cerrado savanna also improved, with losses down almost 24 percent to around 5,517 square kilometres, the lowest since that series started in 2001.
Environment Minister João Paulo Capobianco called the drop “absolutely stratospheric”. Marcio Astrini of the Observatório do Clima network said it proved that political will can rein in forest loss and emissions. The government credits tougher enforcement: between 2023 and 2026 the Ibama agency carried out more than 76,000 inspections and imposed fines worth billions of reais.
The news lands ten days before a tight presidential run-off. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has promised zero illegal deforestation by 2030, faces Senator Flávio Bolsonaro on 25 October. Under his father Jair Bolsonaro’s government, clearing had soared, and the forest’s future has become one of the defining issues of the campaign.
