Satellite monitoring shows deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade, according to new data from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, known as INPE.
The agency's DETER rapid-alert system detected 2,874 square kilometers of forest clearing between August 2025 and July 2026 — an area a little larger than New York City — down 36 percent from the previous 12-month period and 56 percent below the average of the prior decade. It is the lowest annual figure since INPE's current alert system began operating in 2015, according to Mongabay, which first reported the figures.
Officials tied the decline to enforcement measures ramped up since President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva returned to office in 2023, including more frequent raids on illegal logging and mining operations, expanded protections for Indigenous territories, and agreements with municipalities where clearing has historically concentrated. Deforestation in the neighboring Cerrado savanna, also tracked by DETER, dropped nearly 8 percent to its lowest level in five years.
The figures build on a trend documented earlier this year by outlets including Al Jazeera, which reported a similar decade-low pace in July using preliminary six-month data. Scientists caution the clear-cut figures don't capture the full picture of forest damage: selective logging, drought and understory fires can degrade the Amazon without ever registering as outright deforestation, and the severe 2023-24 drought showed how quickly fire risk can spike even as bulldozer-driven clearing falls.
Brazil is due to release its more rigorous annual PRODES survey — considered the official deforestation benchmark — around October or November, which will either confirm or revise the DETER estimate. The government has pointed to the numbers as evidence it can meet its pledge to end illegal deforestation by 2030, a target it will keep defending on the world stage as it continues hosting international climate diplomacy following last year's COP30 summit in Belém.
