Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has been declining month-on-month for over a year and has now reached the lowest rate in five years, according to data from Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (INPE) analyzed by Mongabay.
The INPE’s DETER system also indicates that deforestation between August 2023 and April 2024 had dropped by 51 percent compared to August 2022 to April 2023.
The downturn is especially remarkable as large swathes of the northern Amazon have been struck by extreme drought since 2023. Dry weather tends to be associated with an uptick in deforestation because it increases the risk of wildfires – but that doesn’t appear to be the case this year.
Deforestation of the Amazon is driven by the clearing of land for logging, mining, and ranching, driven by increasing global demand for commodities like beef, soy, and palm oil. Many of these products end up on supermarket shelves and in fast-food restaurants across the world.
Banks and financial institutions, including those based in Europe and the US, are also funneling billions of dollars into the world’s most harmful agribusinesses and profiting from activities linked to deforestation.
The INPE keeps tabs on the rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon using satellite imagery that can determine how much land is being cleared of trees.
Some of this recent deforestation decline in Brazil can be credited to the administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In January 2023, he took over from Jair Bolsonaro, a controversial right-wing populist whose time at the helm was marked by significant attacks on the Amazon rainforest and Indigenous peoples.
Bolsonaro ditched many environmental protections, instead opting for policies that were guided by nationalism and the interests of agro-business. In turn, his tenure saw some of the highest deforestation rates in recent times.
Ahead of the election, Lula ran on a platform to fight deforestation, subsidize sustainable farming, and reform Brazil’s tax code as part of a green new deal. Since taking office, however, there has been some criticism that he’s drifted from his promises on climate and the environment.
While the latest statistics are promising, the Amazon rainforest still faces huge challenges. A study published earlier this year found that climate change and deforestation are pushing the Amazon rainforest towards potential collapse by 2050. This radical change would see the majority of the rainforest become grasslands or degraded ecosystems with lower tree cover.
“We are approaching a potential large-scale tipping point, and we may be closer (both at local scales and across the whole system) than we previously thought,” lead author Bernardo Flores told Agence France-Presse.
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