Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon dropped 11% in the year to July 2025, the lowest annual clearance since 2014.
The direction of the Amazon has been the wrong way for so long that a genuine reversal is worth stating carefully. In the year to July 2025, deforestation in the Brazilian Legal Amazon fell to 5,796 square kilometres, down about 11% from roughly 6,518 the year before, according to the government's INPE monitoring system, the lowest annual clearance since 2014.
How we know
INPE later consolidated that estimate to 5,731 square kilometres in March 2026, a revision of 65 square kilometres. The fall was broad: eight of the nine Legal Amazon states saw clearance drop, and deforestation in the neighbouring Cerrado savanna fell a similar 11.5%. Burned area across the twelve months to September dropped about 45%, from 39,310 square kilometres to 21,543. The tool behind the number is worth trusting: Brazil's INPE monitors the forest by satellite, and its annual PRODES figure is the consolidated, measured count for the year, not a preliminary alert.
Why it matters
The honesty is in the absolute numbers: this is a slower rate of loss, not regrowth, nearly 5,800 square kilometres of forest was still cleared. One state, Mato Grosso, went the other way, with clearance up about 25%, and the Cerrado still loses more land in absolute terms than the Amazon does. So the accurate frame is a trend bending, not a problem solved: a third consecutive fall is the kind of progress that has to be defended every single year to mean anything.
This is a slower rate of loss, not regrowth: nearly 5,800 square kilometres was still cleared. Mato Grosso state saw clearance rise about 25%, and the Cerrado still loses more land in absolute terms than the Amazon, so the trend has to be defended each year.
How much did deforestation fall?
Clearance in the Brazilian Legal Amazon came to 5,796 square kilometres in the year to July 2025, down about 11 percent from 6,518 square kilometres the year before. That is the lowest annual figure since 2014.
Did the fires ease as well?
Yes. Burned area over the twelve months to September 2025 was 21,543 square kilometres, down about 45 percent from 39,310 in the same period a year earlier. Deforestation figures track clear-cutting rather than burning, so the two are measured separately.
Does this mean the forest is recovering?
No. This is a slower rate of loss, not regrowth: nearly 5,800 square kilometres of forest was still cleared over the year. Deforestation in the neighbouring Cerrado savanna fell a similar 11.5 percent but still came to 7,235 square kilometres.
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