STORY-TRÅD·industri

Amazon records lowest deforestation level in 41 years

The Amazon recorded its lowest level of deforestation in 2025 in 41 years. The deforested area totaled 693,000 hectares over the period covered by the data. The figures are part of MapBiomas Collection 11, which compiles information on land cover and land use in Brazil between 1985 and 2025. Most of the deforestation - 639,000 hectares - occurred in primary vegetation, meaning areas where native vegetation remained intact. Another 54,000 hectares of deforested land consisted of secondary vegetation, where ecosystems had already been altered but retained the capacity for natural regeneration. Notícias relacionadas:Zero deforestation recorded on 60% of indigenous lands in the Amazon.Study examines wildfire impacts on indigenous health in Amazonas.Between 1985 and 2025, the Amazon lost 54.7 million hectares of native vegetation. Including areas previously transformed by human activity, the total area altered by humans in the Amazon reached 74.6 million hectares. During the period analyzed, forests were the vegetation type most affected by deforestation, losing 49.7 million hectares, a decline of 14.8 percent. Agriculture and livestock According to the survey, the expansion of agriculture and livestock farming into the Amazon biome was particularly intense in areas adjacent to protected areas, such as conservation units, indigenous lands, and quilombola territories. By 2025, these activities had already affected 30.5 percent of the total area of these protected zones. The proximity of roads to protected areas also puts pressure on sites where native vegetation accounts for 98 percent of the land cover. The study found that areas closer to roads are also those most heavily used for agriculture and livestock farming. Overall, agriculture and livestock farming accounted for 15.5 percent of the Amazon’s territory at the end of 2025, covering 65.3 million hectares. Of this total, 50.8 million hectares – 12 percent of the biome - were used as pasture for livestock. Another 8.6 million hectares were used for agriculture, representing 2 percent of the Amazon’s territory. In 2025, mining occupied 440,000 hectares in the biome. At the beginning of the historical data series, this figure stood at 32,000 hectares, meaning the area occupied by mining increased 14-fold over 41 years. The expansion of agriculture and livestock farming into the Amazon biome was particularly intense in areas adjacent to protected areas, such as conservation units, indigenous lands, and quilombola territories - Marcello Casal jr/Agência Brasil Methodology The study cross-referenced data from MapBiomas Collection 11 with road networks identified using databases from Brazil’s National Department of Transportation Infrastructure (DNIT) and information obtained from OpenStreetMap. The total of 618,000 kilometers of roads also includes those outside the official road network.