Clearing in the 12 months to 31 July 2026 came to roughly 3,335 square kilometres, around 42 percent below the previous year, according to the PRODES monitoring programme run by Inpe, Brazil's space research agency. It is the smallest area recorded since measurements began.
The previous low was 4,571 sq km in 2011-12, Al Jazeera reported. In the mid-1990s close to 30,000 sq km a year was being lost. Deforestation has fallen every year since 2022 and is down 71.2 percent over four years.
Clearing in the neighbouring Cerrado savanna also fell, by about 24 percent to some 5,500 sq km, the lowest since records there began in 2001. The decline has been credited to tighter monitoring and stiffer penalties for illegal logging.
An election issue
The figures arrived shortly before the 25 October run-off. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in 2023 promising to end illegal deforestation by 2030. His challenger, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, has pledged to do so by 2029 and to concentrate enforcement on organised crime rather than small farmers and extractive workers.
Mongabay noted that about 15 percent of the Amazon has already been cleared, and that scientists warn losses of 20 to 25 percent could disrupt rainfall across the region. A strong El Niño could also raise the risk of drought and fire in the months ahead.
Sources
Read online: https://ujyaalotoday.com/en/article/amazon-deforestation-record-low-brazil
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