Brazil's Amazon deforestation falls to lowest on record before run-off
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen to its lowest level since records began, according to new government data.
Forest clearance dropped 41.8% over the past year to 3,335 square kilometres, as measured by Prodes, Brazil's satellite-based monitoring system The Guardian. That is the smallest area cleared since measurements started in 1988, beating the previous low by 1,236 square kilometres.
Brazil is scheduled to hold a presidential run-off on 25 October between Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro. Flávio Bolsonaro is the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
Brazil's National Institute for Space Research said the Amazon deforestation rate has slowed by 71.2% since the start of the Lula administration in 2022. Three states accounted for most of the remaining loss in 2026. Pará registered 33.9%, Mato Grosso registered 25.5% and Amazonas registered 15.7%. Deforestation in Roraima increased by 0.4%.
Losses fell in the Cerrado, the savanna biome south and east of the Amazon. Clearance there dropped to 5,516 square kilometres, its lowest annual total since 2001. Over the past four years, Cerrado deforestation has fallen by 48.4%.
Earlier monitoring had pointed to a continued decline. Areas under deforestation alert in the Amazon fell 36% in the August 2025 to July 2026 cycle Brazil's Environment Ministry. INPE reported 5,731 square kilometres of Amazon deforestation in 2025, with eight of nine Legal Amazon states reducing loss between 2024 and 2025 INPE.
The decline follows a sharp rise under Jair Bolsonaro's 2019-23 term, which oversaw a 59.5% increase in Amazon deforestation. More than 45,000 square kilometres of forest were cleared during his presidency from 2019 to 2022 NewsNation.
Brazil has opened an investigation into Amazon wildfires that disrupted daily life and fueled political attacks Bay News 9. Fire counts across the Amazon biome tripled after Oct. 4, after sitting near historic lows earlier in the year. Brazilians voted in the first round of the presidential election on Oct. 4.
