Fires in the Brazilian Amazon fell to their lowest level in history in 2025, after peaking the previous year, according to data released Tuesday by the environmental monitoring network MapBiomas. This unprecedented result since the beginning of surveys in 1985 is good news for left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, less than three months before an election in which he will seek re-election.
The largest tropical forest in the world experienced a critical situation in 2024, with 15.8 million hectares burned. A historic drought had favored the spread of fires, the vast majority of which were started by human activities. The MapBiomas annual report, based on the use of satellite images, shows that the situation was reversed last year: the Amazon recorded 3.1 million hectares affected by flames.
At the level of Brazil as a whole, the results are also positive, since the burned area in 2025 reached its lowest level since 2018 (12.7 million hectares). Preserving the Amazon is essential in the fight against global warming, as vegetation absorbs the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming.
The drop in the number of fires in the Amazon was “extraordinary” last year, geographer Ane Alencar, coordinator of the report from MapBiomas, a network that brings together universities, NGOs and technology companies, told the press.
According to the expert, a shift in the rainy season between 2024 and 2025 prevented an “ideal window for fires in certain places” from being created last year where fire is used to clear agricultural land. In addition to unauthorized or poorly controlled burning of pastures, there are other illicit practices, such as the use of fire to deforest areas of illegal mining.
The drastic drop in fires in 2025 is also linked to a reduction in deforestation, which has continued since Lula’s return to power in 2023. Deforested areas provide fertile ground for fires to spread. It is also explained by a “psychological factor” in the communities affected by the uncontrolled fires of 2024 which, for fear of a similar situation, “contributed to the control of the fire”.
« S’inquiéter d’El Niño »
The drop in fires in Brazil “returns the country to a historically low level of burned area”, underlines the report. However, in the center of the country, the Cerrado, the second largest Brazilian ecosystem after the Amazon and the most biodiverse savannah in the world, “continued to burn” at levels similar to those of 2024, underlined Ms. Alencar.
The expert also warned that “we must be concerned” about the possible arrival of a “super El Niño” this year, this natural climatic phenomenon which could lead to “an extension of the dry season and a greater probability of forest fires”.
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in the first half of 2026 has reached its lowest level in a decade, according to official figures. Lula, who promised to eradicate illegal deforestation by 2030, is keen to display a good environmental record before running for a fourth non-consecutive term in October. However, he is strongly criticized by environmental defenders for his support for a vast oil exploration project off the coast of the Amazon.
