In 2025, deforestation fell by 11.08 percent in the Amazon and by 11.49 percent in the Cerrado

The deforested area in the Amazon reached 5,796 km² between August 2024 and July 2025, representing an 11.08 percent decrease compared with the previous period (August 2023 to July 2024), according to estimates from the Prodes system of the National Institute for Space Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais/Inpe), released this Thursday, October 30, in Brasília. This is the third-lowest rate since measurements began in 1988 and the third consecutive year of decline under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration, marking a 50 percent reduction in deforestation in the biome by 2025 compared with 2022.

The Cerrado also maintained its downward trend. The official deforestation rate for the period was 7,235.27 km², representing an 11.49 percent decrease compared with the previous period (August 2023 to July 2024). This marks the second consecutive year of decline, following five years of increase from 2019 to 2023.

As a result, an estimated 733.9 million tons of CO₂e emissions have been avoided from deforestation in the Amazon and Cerrado since 2022. This amount is equivalent to the combined annual emissions of Spain and France in 2022.

The reduction of deforestation in the Amazon for the third consecutive year under this administration, and in the Cerrado for the second consecutive cycle, confirms that the environmental agenda is a priority and a cross-cutting theme in President Lula’s government”
Marina Silva, Brazil’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change

2030 – These figures reflect the Brazilian government’s commitment to achieving zero deforestation nationwide by 2030, as well as the actions implemented since the beginning of President Lula’s administration to meet that goal. They include the restructuring of environmental governance, the creation of Action Plans for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon, the Cerrado, and other Brazilian biomes, and the reinstatement of the Permanent Interministerial Commission for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation and Fires [Comissão Interministerial Permanente de Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento e Queimadas], which brings together 19 ministries under the leadership of the Office of the Chief of Staff and the executive secretariat of the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change [Ministério do Meio Ambiente e Mudança do Clima/MMA].

Evolução do desmatamento na Amazônia segundo a medição do Inpe

ENFORCEMENT – Another key pillar is the intensification of inspection and monitoring efforts carried out by the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources [Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis/IBAMA] and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade/ICMBio), with support from other agencies such as the National Institute for Space Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais/Inpe), the Federal Police (Polícia Federal), the Federal Highway Police (Polícia Rodoviária Federal), and the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples [Fundação Nacional dos Povos Indígenas/FUNAI].

IBAMA AND ICMBio – In the Amazon, from 2023 to 2025, compared with the 2020–2022 period, IBAMA increased the issuance of environmental violation notices related to flora by 81 percent, fines by 63 percent, and embargoes by 51 percent, with a 49 percent rise in the total embargoed area. In the Cerrado, the agency recorded a 24 percent increase in violation notices related to flora, a 130 percent rise in fines, and a 38 percent increase in embargoes, with a 26 percent expansion in the embargoed area. ICMBio [Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade], in turn, conducted 312 enforcement actions in the Amazon between August 2024 and July 2025, issuing 1,301 violation notices and 816 embargoes in federal conservation units. In the Cerrado, 91 operations were carried out, resulting in 402 violation notices and 218 embargoes.

 AMAZON FUND – In addition to command-and-control measures, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva highlights the role of financial instruments such as the Amazon Fund, which strengthen federal, state, and municipal agencies and promote sustainable development in the biome. The goal, she emphasizes, is to make forest preservation more profitable than its destruction.

PRIORITY AGENDA – “The reduction of deforestation in the Amazon for the third consecutive year under this administration, and in the Cerrado for the second consecutive cycle, confirms that the environmental agenda is a priority and a cross-cutting theme in President Lula’s government. This is essential for the country to contribute to tackling climate change at the global level, which directly benefits the lives of Brazilian men and women who are already facing, to varying degrees, the growing impacts of global warming through extreme weather events, for example,” she stated. “Fighting deforestation and protecting the environment are prerequisites for Brazil to achieve sustainable economic development and generate prosperity for its people.”

EVIDENCE – The assessment is shared by Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation Luciana Santos, who emphasized the importance of public policies grounded in scientific evidence. “These results are not a matter of chance. The excellence of INPE and the precision of the monitoring we carry out form the foundation that enables us to understand the reality of our territory and, from there, support the actions of the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change in this partnership that has proven so fruitful,” she stated.

DOWNWARD CURVE – IBAMA President Rodrigo Agostinho stressed that the agency “has worked tirelessly through command-and-control actions to reach this point and maintain the downward curve of deforestation.” He added, “We are using the most advanced technology available to combat environmental crimes.”

This has only been possible thanks to new investments, the training of specialized inspectors, and a strategic action plan. These efforts are enduring: we are strengthening the protection of these areas and rigorously removing those who invade and illegally occupy federal lands”

Mauro Pires, President of ICMBio

Melhoria dos indicadores no Cerrado

FIELD PRESENCE – ICMBio President Mauro Pires also noted that the results reflect the agency’s strong presence in the field. “This has only been possible thanks to new investments, the training of specialized inspectors, and a strategic action plan. These actions are enduring: we are strengthening the protection of these areas and rigorously removing those who invade and illegally occupy federal lands,” he said.

PRIORITY MUNICIPALITIES – In the same period, deforestation fell by 65.5 percent in municipalities participating in the Union with Municipalities Program (União com Municípios/UcM), considered a priority by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change for deforestation and forest-fire control measures. Among the states in the Legal Amazon with the highest reduction rates, Tocantins recorded a 62.5 percent decrease; Amapá, 48.15 percent; Acre, 27.62 percent; Maranhão, 26.06 percent; Amazonas, 16.93 percent; Pará, 12.4 percent; Rondônia, 33.61 percent; and Roraima, 37.39 percent. An increase of 25.06 percent was recorded in Mato Grosso.

INTEGRATED ACTION – The results achieved by municipalities participating in the UcM program, according to André Lima, Extraordinary Secretary for Deforestation Control and Environmental Territorial Management at the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, underscore the importance of coordinated action among federal entities. “The reduction in the deforestation rate in priority municipalities is 31 percent greater than the rate recorded across the entire Amazon. Considering that these are the municipalities with the highest deforestation rates, this impact is truly significant,” he stated.

These results are not a matter of chance. The excellence of INPE and the precision of its monitoring provide the foundation that allows us to understand the reality of our territory and support the actions of the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change”
Luciana Santos, Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation 

MATOPIBA – In the Cerrado, 77.9 percent of deforestation occurred in the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, and Bahia, which together form the region known as Matopiba. Also present at the release of the 2024–2025 PRODES data were the Executive Secretary of the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, João Paulo Capobianco; the Director of the Climate and Sustainability Department at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation [Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação/MCTI], Osvaldo Moraes; the Coordinator of the Brazilian Biomes Monitoring Program (BiomasBR) at INPE, Claudio Almeida; and the Deputy Coordinator of the BiomasBR Program at the institute, Silvana Amaral.

MONITORING – PRODES uses satellite imagery to produce the annual deforestation rate, while the DETER system issues daily alerts on trends in vegetation cover change across the Amazon, Cerrado, and Pantanal. This mechanism is essential to support inspection and control activities related to deforestation and forest degradation carried out by IBAMA and ICMBio.

Key actions to combat deforestation

• Resumption and acceleration of Amazon Fund investments: BRL 3.642 billion invested in the last three years alone. There was also a significant increase in the number of international donors, rising from two to eight countries (Norway, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland, and Japan) since 2023.
• Approval of BRL 850 million from the Amazon Fund to strengthen environmental enforcement actions for the control of illegal deforestation in the Amazon.
• Implementation of the Union with Municipalities Program [União com Municípios/UcM]: total investment of BRL 785 million to promote sustainable development in 81 municipalities in the Amazon, of which 70 have already joined the initiative.
• Allocation of BRL 405 million to strengthen the nine states of the Legal Amazon in combating forest fires. Each state receives BRL 45 million in non-reimbursable funds. The states of Acre and Rondônia also had additional operations contracted for BRL 21.7 million and BRL 34 million, respectively.
• Launch of Action Plans for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation and Fires across all six Brazilian biomes for the first time, introducing specific strategies for environmental preservation tailored to each region.
• An environmental emergency decree signed by Minister Marina Silva in response to the risk of forest fires in specific regions and periods. The decree identifies vulnerable areas and high-risk periods to enable the emergency hiring of federal firefighting brigades.
• Ongoing activities of the Permanent Interministerial Commission for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation [Comissão Interministerial Permanente de Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento/CIPPCD]: brings together 19 ministries and invited agencies, under the presidency of the Office of the Chief of Staff and the executive secretariat of the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.
• Interministerial coordination to tackle fires: establishment of a Situation Room comprising 10 ministries and six federal agencies to monitor, regularly, the evolution of climatic conditions and their impact on fire risk.
• Creation of the National Committee for Integrated Fire Management [Comitê Nacional de Manejo Integrado do Fogo/COMIF]: establishes guidelines for the development of Integrated Fire Management Plans [Planos de Manejo Integrado do Fogo/PMIF] at different levels—from public authorities to rural properties—assigning responsibilities among federal entities and the private sector. The goal is to promote shared responsibility for fire prevention and mitigation actions. The PMIFs are key instruments of the National Policy for Integrated Fire Management, established by Law No. 14.944/2024.