Forest loss in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest fell by 41.8% over the past year, reaching the lowest level since satellite measurements began in 1988. New government data show that the cleared area shrank to 3,335 square kilometers. This beat the previous record low by 1,236 square kilometers, an area about the size of the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Deforestation has dropped by 71.2% since 2022, the year before President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office. Environmental researchers explain that this major turnaround happened because the government invested more money in environmental agencies and enforced conservation laws much more strictly.
However, researchers warn that these gains are at risk ahead of Brazil's presidential run-off election on October 25. President Lula is competing against Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. During the elder Bolsonaro's term, Amazon deforestation jumped by 59.5% after his government cut funding for forest protection agencies and reduced penalties for illegal logging and farming.
Conservation groups say the upcoming election will determine whether the rainforest continues to recover or faces new destruction. Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, said the new data prove that ending deforestation is possible, but the final outcome depends entirely on the election result.