Amazon deforestation alerts fall to lowest level since 2013

Deforestation alerts in the Brazilian Amazon have fallen to their lowest level in 13 years, according to new satellite data from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE), continuing a decline recorded since President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva returned to office in 2023.

INPE's DETER alert system detected 2,874 sq km of deforestation in the Amazon between August 1, 2025 and July 31, 2026. The figure was 36% lower than the previous 12-month period and 55.6% below the average for the preceding 10 years.

The latest total is the lowest since INPE began operating the current DETER system in 2015. Including data from its predecessor system, the last year with a lower figure was 2012-13, when 2,766 sq km of deforestation alerts were recorded.

DETER is a rapid-response monitoring system designed to help environmental enforcement agencies identify new forest clearing quickly. It uses satellite imagery to detect areas of deforestation that authorities can then investigate.

The system differs from PRODES, INPE's higher-resolution annual monitoring programme, which provides Brazil's official deforestation rate. Preliminary PRODES figures for the year ending July 31 are expected in October or November.

PRODES data for the year ending July 2025 had already recorded the Amazon's lowest forest loss in 11 years. The latest DETER figures indicate that clearing declined further over the following year.

If PRODES records a similar decline, Brazil could register its lowest official Amazon deforestation rate since monitoring began in 1988.

Independent monitoring has also pointed to a decline in forest clearing. Brazilian nonprofit Imazon, which operates its own satellite-based alert system using methods different from DETER, has reported a similar trend in recent years.

The decline has coincided with renewed environmental enforcement under Lula's government.

Authorities have increased enforcement operations and monitoring, resumed efforts to protect Indigenous territories and pursued agreements with municipalities where deforestation is concentrated.

Brazil has pledged to eliminate illegal deforestation by 2030.

Deforestation alerts also declined in the Cerrado, Brazil's tropical savanna that has faced extensive conversion for agriculture. DETER recorded 5,119 sq km of alerts there during the latest period, down 7.8% from the previous year and the lowest level in five years.

INPE also released consolidated PRODES data for three other Brazilian biomes covering August 2024 to July 2025. Deforestation fell 34.3% in the Caatinga to 2,290 sq km, 15.3% in the Atlantic Forest to 402 sq km and 41.7% in the Pampa to 305 sq km.

The findings were released as INPE marked its 65th anniversary. Claudio Almeida, coordinator of the institute's BiomasBR programme, said the data demonstrated INPE's ability to maintain technological independence in monitoring Brazil's landscapes and serve as an international reference for satellite-based environmental monitoring.

Environmental campaigners also welcomed the decline. Astrini said the figures showed Brazil could meet its commitment to end and reverse deforestation by 2030.

Despite the decline in clear-cutting, however, environmental experts warn that the Amazon remains vulnerable to other forms of forest degradation.

Logging, drought, edge effects and understory fires can damage standing forests without immediately registering as deforestation. Such degradation can reduce carbon storage and biodiversity while making forests more vulnerable to future drought and fires.

Fire remains a particular concern during the Amazon's dry season. Fires used to clear vegetation or manage pasture can spread into neighbouring forests during hot and dry conditions.

The severe 2023-24 drought demonstrated that fires and other forms of ecological damage can increase even when the area being completely cleared declines.

The latest figures therefore represent a significant improvement in the rate of forest clearing, but do not by themselves indicate that the wider threats to the Amazon have been eliminated.