The Brazilian Amazon has recorded its lowest deforestation rate in a decade — a 90 percent drop from the devastating peak just four years ago. From January to June 2026, trees were cleared across 1,295 square kilometers, an area nearly twice the size of New York City, according to the National Institute for Space Research, which tracks forest loss via satellite.
The numbers mark a dramatic turnaround for the world's largest rainforest, which stores massive amounts of carbon and helps regulate the global climate. In 2022, under then-President Jair Bolsonaro's policies favoring expanded mining and farming, an area roughly 13 times the size of New York City was destroyed. That figure has now been halved and continues to fall.
The progress traces back to when leftist leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva returned to the presidency in 2023, promising to end illegal deforestation. This month, he renewed that pledge, vowing to eradicate illegal forest clearing by 2030. The Amazon, which spans nine countries but is most densely monitored in Brazil, plays an outsized role in absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.
The improvement extends to Brazil's Cerrado region, a biodiverse savanna south of the Amazon, where clearing also reached its lowest point since 2021. An area twice the size of London was deforested there in the same six-month period.
Still, environmental groups have raised concerns about Lula's support for a new oil exploration project near the Amazon River's mouth. And this October, Lula faces re-election against Flavío Bolsonaro, the far-right former president's eldest son, who visited the Amazonian city of Belém last month calling for increased development. Despite the political headwinds, the latest satellite data suggests the Amazon may finally be getting a fighting chance.