Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen to its lowest level since records began in 1988, according to annual satellite figures from Brazil’s space research agency, Inpe.
The Prodes satellite data series, considered the most accurate measure of deforestation, showed forest clearance in the Amazon fell by 41.8% over the past year to 3,335 square kilometres, the Guardian reported. The result beats the previous record low by 1,236 sq km, equivalent to an area the size of Rio de Janeiro.
Inpe released the data on Friday 16 October, DW reported. It covers August 2025 to July 2026. The previous year’s figure was 5,731 square kilometres.
“It’s an absolutely stratospheric drop…it’s like a dream,” Environment Minister Joao Paulo Capobianco said at a press conference in Brasilia, according to DW.
President Lula set a target in a post on X. “Our goal is to achieve zero illegal deforestation by 2030,” he wrote, DW reported.
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Two Governments
The rate climbed before it fell. During Jair Bolsonaro’s 2019-23 term, Amazon deforestation rose 59.5%, the Guardian reported. The paper links the rise to cuts to forest protection agencies and reduced implementation of penalties for environmental crimes.
Since 2022, the year before the Lula administration began, the deforestation rate has slowed by 71.2%. The Guardian puts that largely down to stronger enforcement and state investment in environmental agencies.
Observatório do Clima said the figures were the result of a “sustained commitment” by the government, which introduced greater monitoring and stiffer penalties for illegal logging, DW reported.
The States
Pará had the worst record in 2026, with 33.9% of all Amazon deforestation. Mato Grosso followed on 25.5% and Amazonas on 15.7%, the Guardian reported. Even in those three states, figures fell by more than 45%. Deforestation rose 0.4% in Roraima.
The Cerrado
The neighbouring Cerrado savannah recorded its lowest annual deforestation since 2001, at 5,516 sq km, according to the Guardian. It has fallen 48.4% over four years.
Rain at Risk
The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest, and most of it lies in Brazil, DW reported.
Deforestation now amounts to about 15% of the biome, according to research by the nonprofit Amazon Conservation, Mongabay reported. Scientists estimate that at 20-25%, the evapotranspiration system that drives rainfall across the region could fail.
Mongabay says the near-term outlook is challenged by the El Niño brewing in the Pacific, which is associated with drought in the southern Amazon. Fires typically increase in the southern Amazon in the year after a strong El Niño, it reported.
More reporting is in prw’s Environment archive. Closer to home, prw has covered the High Court’s climate ruling on the Mount Pleasant coal mine expansion.
A Record With a Run-Off Attached
Brazil’s presidential run-off between Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro is on 25 October, DW reported. Lula fell behind in the first round, according to the Guardian.
Conservation groups said the new data showed how much was at stake in the run-off, the Guardian reported.
“The figure makes it clear that putting an end to forest destruction in Brazil is entirely possible,” said Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, the Guardian reported. “However, everything depends on the election result. The country will decide whether we move toward the end of deforestation or toward the end of the forest.”
Sources: The Guardian, “Brazilian Amazon deforestation falls to lowest on record as pivotal vote looms”, 16 October 2026 (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/16/brazil-amazon-deforestation-lowest-on-record-election); DW, “Brazil: Amazon deforestation lowest in nearly 40 years”, 16 October 2026 (https://amp.dw.com/en/brazil-amazon-deforestation-lowest-in-nearly-40-years/a-79684906); Mongabay, “Amazon deforestation falls 42% to a record low”, 16 October 2026 (https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/10/amazon-deforestation-falls-42-to-a-record-low/)
Photo: lubasi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Rainforest lines a winding stretch of the Solimões River in the Brazilian Amazon, photographed from an aircraft window in 2009. An illustrative file view, not a picture of the newly reported clearing.
