Brazilian Amazon’s Lowest Deforestation Since 2017 Amid Record Fires

The Brazilian Amazon has recorded its lowest deforestation rates in the first half of this year since 2017.

According to the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation MCTI, 1,639 square kilometers (km²) were destroyed from January 1 to June 30.

This is the smallest area for this period since 2017’s 1,332 km² and a 38% decrease from 2023.

In contrast, the Cerrado biome, where destruction had surged since early 2020, saw a drop for the first time in four years.

The deforested area fell from a record 4,396 km² in 2023 to 3,724 km², a 15% reduction.

Combined, the deforestation in these biomes is over three times the size of São Paulo, South America’s largest city.

The Amazon also showed a significant improvement over the last 11 months, with alerts indicating a 51.1% reduction from August 2023 to June 2024.

However, the Cerrado had a 14.6% increase in the same period, though recent data suggest a potential reversal in this trend.

In June alone, deforestation alerts in the Cerrado showed a 24.3% reduction compared to the same month last year.

Amazon Burns as Never Before

In the first half of 2024, the Brazilian Amazon experienced 13,489 fires, a 61% increase from the previous year.

This surge marks the highest number of fires in two decades. Data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) show it was the third-worst semester for fires since record-keeping began in 1998.

Only 2003, with 17,143 fires, and 2004, with 17,340 fires, recorded higher numbers. The Amazon’s first six months of 2024 saw more fires compared to 8,344 during the same period last year.

Despite this increase in fires, deforestation in the Amazon dropped by 42%. In the first half of 2024, 1,525 square kilometers of rainforest were deforested, compared to the same period in 2023.

Additionally, forest fires also reached unprecedented levels in the Pantanal and Cerrado biomes. These regions lie south of the Amazon.