Hopeful news comes from Brazil: deforestation in the Amazon has fallen to the lowest levels in the last 13 years.
According to new data from INPE, the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research, between August 1, 2025 and July 31, 2026, the DETER satellite system detected 2,874 square kilometers of new deforestation alerts. A figure that marks a decline of 36% compared to the previous twelve months and 55.6% compared to the average of the previous ten years.
To find a lower value you have to go back to the period 2012-2013, when 2,766 square kilometers were recorded.
Deforestation in the Amazon at its lowest since 2013 (and Lula’s role)
DETER is the rapid monitoring system used by INPE to identify areas affected by new deforestation almost in real time and allow the authorities to intervene. However, the official data will only come from PRODES, the high-resolution satellite program that measures the actual loss of forest every year and which represents the official reference of the Brazilian government.
And if PRODES confirms a decline similar to that recorded by DETER, Brazil could reach the lowest level of Amazon deforestation since the beginning of the historical series, in 1988.
@Mongabay
The decline in deforestation coincides with the strengthening of environmental policies initiated after the return of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the presidency of Brazil in 2023. In recent years, controls against illegal logging, land operations, satellite monitoring and initiatives to protect indigenous territories have increased.
We talk about it here: A billion dollars from Brazil to save tropical forests: President Lula gives a lesson to the world
The Brazilian Government has also intensified collaboration with the municipalities where forest loss is most concentrated and the declared objective is to achieve zero illegal deforestation by 2030.
Beyond the Amazon
The positive trend is not limited to the Amazon. In the Cerrado, the vast Brazilian tropical savannah strongly threatened by agricultural expansion, DETER recorded 5,119 square kilometers of deforestation alerts, 7.8% less than the previous year. This is the lowest value in the last five years.
Data relating to other large Brazilian ecosystems are also decreasing.
Between August 2024 and July 2025, deforestation decreased:
Numbers that show how much satellite monitoring, controls and public policies can have a concrete impact on the protection of ecosystems.
Is the Amazon now out of danger?
Not exactly: the decline in deforestation should not be confused with the end of a now historic emergency. The selective cutting of trees, fires, drought, forest fragmentation and degradation of the undergrowth can compromise ecosystems which, in statistics, are still formally “standing”.
And the consequences can be severe, because a degraded forest stores less carbon, hosts less biodiversity and is more vulnerable to new droughts and fires. The risk is particularly high during the dry season, when fires used to clear agricultural land or manage pastures can get out of control and reach nearby forest areas.
The very severe drought of 2023-2024 has already shown that fires and ecological degradation can increase even when the area completely deforested decreases.
The collapse of deforestation alarms therefore remains one of the best news to come from the Amazon in recent years, but the real goal is to ensure that the forest remains alive, intact, humid and capable of continuing to play its essential role for the climate and biodiversity of the planet.
