Brazil's Amazon deforestation hits record low: Why it matters amid election battle

A helicopter is seen flying over an area affected by fires in the Amazon rainforest (AFP)

Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has recorded its lowest annual deforestation rate since records began in 1988, with 3,335 square kilometres of forest cleared between August 2025 and July 2026, according to the country’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE).The area cleared was 41.8 per cent lower than the 5,731 square kilometres recorded in the previous 12-month period, marking a significant decline in forest loss.The figures offer a boost to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s efforts to curb deforestation and meet his government’s target of ending illegal forest clearance by 2030.The previous record low for Amazon deforestation was 4,571 square kilometres in 2011–12, while annual forest loss peaked at nearly 30,000 square kilometres in the mid-1990s.“This is an absolutely stratospheric drop … it’s like a dream,” environment minister João Paulo Capobianco said at a news conference in Brasília, according to Al Jazeera.Márcio Astrini, executive secretary of climate advocacy group Observatório do Clima, described the figures as a “historic achievement”, saying they demonstrated that political will could help curb deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions.

The Brazilian Amazon lost an average of about 11,600 square kilometres of forest annually during Jair Bolsonaro’s 2019–2022 presidency, nearly 60 per cent more than the average in the preceding four years, Al Jazeera reported.Amazon deforestation becomes an election issueThe latest figures come ahead of Brazil’s October 25 presidential runoff between Lula and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Polls have shown the two candidates neck and neck.Flávio Bolsonaro has pledged to strengthen environmental oversight in the Amazon, prioritising areas facing the greatest pressure from deforestation and wildfires. His manifesto proposes focusing law enforcement on organised crime rather than extractive workers and small farmers.He has also praised his father’s opposition to what he describes as a “radical environmental agenda”.

The election could therefore have implications for the future direction of Brazil’s environmental policy.Amazon, the lungs of the EarthOften described as the “lungs of the Earth”, the Amazon rainforest is one of the planet’s most important ecosystems, spanning approximately seven million square kilometres across South America.It plays a crucial role in regulating the global climate by absorbing carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and storing carbon in its trees, vegetation and soils.The Science Panel for the Amazon estimates that the region’s vegetation and soils store between 150 billion and 200 billion tonnes of carbon, making the protection of its forests significant for global efforts to limit climate change.The rainforest also helps regulate rainfall through evapotranspiration, a process in which trees absorb water from the soil and release moisture into the atmosphere. This moisture contributes to cloud formation and rainfall, sustaining the forest’s water cycle and influencing weather patterns across South America.According to the Science Panel for the Amazon’s assessment, the forest recycles a substantial proportion of its rainfall and releases moisture that travels through the atmosphere, sometimes described as “flying rivers”.The Amazon is also a major global biodiversity hotspot, supporting more than 10 per cent of known global biodiversity, including numerous species of plants and animals.