Brazil records 56.8% drop in hotspots, 61% decrease in burned areas in July

A 56.8% drop in the number of hotspots, and a 61% decrease in burned areas — both parameters recorded in July 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. This is the result of the work carried out by Brazil’s Federal Government and states in fire prevention and fighting. The data comes from the BDQueimadas system, the National Institute of Space Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais/INPE), and the Laboratory of Environmental Satellite Applications (Laboratório de Aplicações de Satélites Ambientais/LASA) of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and were released on Wednesday, August 6, by the Brazilian Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (Ministério do Meio Ambiente e Mudança do Clima/MMA).

In total, there were 9,713 hotspots in July this year, compared to 22,487 in the same month last year. Records from the same period show that around 726,000 hectares were burned, compared to the 1.8 million recorded in the previous year.

SIX BIOMES – The data revealed a reduction in burned areas and the number of hotspots across five of Brazil’s six biomes. The decrease reflects the less severe climatic conditions observed this year, as well as the measures adopted by the Federal Government and states in confronting forest fires. During the first six months of 2025, Brazil recorded a 46.36% drop in the number of hotspots and 65.8% in burned areas across the country compared to the first half of last year (find out more here).

PANTANAL – The Pantanal saw the greatest drop in fires and burned areas in July. Over the period, 39 hotspots were recorded, representing a 96.8% decrease compared to the same period last year, when 1,218 fires were recorded. There was also a 99.2% reduction in burned areas, with a record 1,400 hectares burned in July 2025 compared to more than 170,000 hectares burned in 2024 during that same month.

AMAZON – There was also a sharp decrease in both scenarios in the Amazon:  an 80.9%, with 2,183 hotspots detected in the first half of 2025, compared to more than 11.4 thousand identified over the previous period. The biome recorded 79,000 hectares of burned areas in 2025, down 89.9% compared to 2024, with 782,000 burned hectares.

ATLANTIC FOREST – In the Atlantic Forest, hotspots dropped 19.3%, to 1,404 in July 2025, compared to 1,739 in the previous year. The area affected by fires decreased 76.4% — from 28,500 hectares in July 2024 to 6,700 hectares over the same period in 2025.

CERRADO – Next comes the Cerrado, with a 28.9% drop of hotspots over the same period (5,303) compared to July 2024 (7,463). There was also a 28.1% reduction in the area affected by fires, compared to 624.1 thousand hectares affected by fires in the same month in 2025. In the previous cycle, 868.6 thousand burned hectares were identified.

PAMPA – In the Pampa, there was a 15.9% drop in hotspots in July 2025 (69) compared to the previous year (82). There was also a 12.8% reduction in the burned area, with 476 hectares affected by fires in July 2025. Over the previous period, 546 hectares of burned areas were identified.

PRESCRIBED BURNS – The planned application of fire for conservation in landscape and territory management increases communities’ and environments’ resilience to fire. Environmental conditions defined in the burning window may result in the formation of mosaics in the landscape due to different burning regimes, thus preventing fire from entering sensitive areas such as forests, for instance.

From January to July this year, the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade/ICMBio) and the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e Recursos Naturais Renováveis/IBAMA), linked to the MMA, carried out controlled and prescribed burnings for socio-environmental conservation and prevention of forest fires in 154,016 hectares of Federal Conservation Units and 83,730 hectares of Indigenous Lands, totaling 237,746 hectares across all Brazilian biomes.

MORE ACTIONS – Other actions implemented by the Federal Government to prevent and fight forest fires during the 2025 season include:

• The largest-ever contingent of federal brigade members was hired: 4,385 professionals — 2,600 from IBAMA and 1,785 from ICMBio, a 26% increase compared to 2024.
• The infrastructure for 2025 includes seven new helicopters for IBAMA's use in fighting fires and deforestation. The renewal of the fleet increased agents’ and brigade members’ transport capacity by 75%, the number of flight hours per year by 40%, and the water launch capacity by 133%.
• Since 2023, the Amazon Fund (Fundo Amazônia) has approved BRL 405 million to support the Fire Departments of the nine states of the Legal Amazon in the prevention and fight against forest fires. Of these, 370 million have already been hired. There are projects worth BRL 45 million each for the states of Roraima, Amapá, Pará, Amazonas, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, and Tocantins, and approximately BRL 21 million and BRL 34 million for Acre and Rondônia, respectively.
• For the first time, the Amazon Fund will also support fire prevention and fighting actions in states outside the Amazon, such as the Cerrado and Pantanal. In July, BRL 150 million were approved for the Military Fire Departments and forest brigades of Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Goiás, Bahia, Piauí, and the Federal District. Authored by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública), the project was presented through interministerial work.
• The sanction of Law 15.143/2025, which expands the capacity to respond to forest fires, and allows for the transfer of resources directly from the National Environment Fund (Fundo Nacional do Meio Ambiente/FNMA) to states and municipalities, ensuring greater agility in the hiring of brigade members, reducing the interval of their rehiring to three months. The law also allows for the use of foreign aircraft in environmental emergencies.
• Announcement of the Action Plans for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation and Fires (Planos de Ação para Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento e das Queimadas/PPCDs), for the first time, for all Brazilian biomes, with specific strategies for environmental preservation in different pillars until 2027 (access here).
• Since January 2025, the MMA has held four meetings with experts from public agencies and universities to assess the climate situation and future forecasts, in addition to their impact on the occurrence of large, extreme forest fires.
• Publication, in June 2025, of a public notice that provides for resources in the amount of BRL 32 million from the National Environmental Fund (Fundo Nacional do Meio Ambiente/FNMA) alongside the Fund for the Defense of Diffuse Rights (Fundo de Defesa dos Direitos Difusos/FDD) to support priority municipalities in the Amazon and Pantanal in implementing the Operational Plans to Prevent and Combat Forest Fires (Planos Operativos de Prevenção e Combate aos Incêndios Florestais).
• Resumption of the Federal Government’s Interministerial Situation Room on Fires (Sala de Situação Interministerial sobre Incêndios), composed of 10 ministries and six other federal agencies (May and June 2025). The group meets periodically to monitor the evolution of the climate framework and its impact on fire risk, as well as for mutual support in prevention and combat actions.
• Completion of the Pantanal Biome Fire Prevention and Fighting Plan (Plano de Prevenção e Combate a Incêndios do Bioma Pantanal) for this year's season, prepared jointly by the Federal Government and the states that house the biome (May 2025). The plan for the nine states of the Legal Amazon is in the final phase of preparation.
• Placement of a campaign to prevent and combat criminal forest fires in the Legal Amazon — focused on Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, and Roraima, states that were most affected by fires over the last year (April and May 2025).
• Publication of an ordinance by the MMA (nº1.327/2025) declaring an emergency due to fire risk (March 2025), highlighting areas that are vulnerable to fires across Brazil, and the periods of greatest risk, to enable the emergency hiring of federal brigade members and actions by states and municipalities.
• Decree No. 12,189, signed by President Lula, increases punishments for those who start forest fires in Brazil.