Zürcher Nachrichten - Brazil boasts drop in deforestation ahead of UN climate talks

Brazil is home to the largest share of the vast rainforest, which spans nine countries and is considered crucial in the fight against climate change.

The National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which tracks forest cover by satellite, said that an area almost four times the size of Greater London had been destroyed between August 2024 and July 2025.

This was 11 percent less than the previous year and represented the lowest figures since 2014.

Claudio Almeida, a coordinator at INPE, said the loss of 5,796 square kilometers (2,238 square miles) of native vegetation represented "the fourth consecutive year of a reduction" in deforestation.

Forest loss also slowed 11 percent in the Cerrado, a vast region of tropical savannah in central Brazil.

The Amazon rainforest stores vast amounts of carbon, which becomes carbon dioxide -- a greenhouse gas that is a key driver of climate change -- when large quantities of trees and soil are burned.

"When we achieve a good result, we have to move on to the next challenge. We cannot rest on our laurels. Our challenge is to reduce deforestation to zero by 2030," Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva told a press conference.

Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva set zero deforestation as a goal for his government when he returned to power in 2023 for a third term.

- Record fires worsened forest loss -

Brazil has made forest protection a top priority for the COP30 climate talks, which will take place in the Amazon city of Belem in November.

The country is the world's sixth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

However, unlike most nations, it is not the burning of fossil fuels that is the worst culprit in releasing these gases, but the cutting down of forests.

Experts say the destruction of the Amazon and Cerrado is mainly driven by agriculture -- the second-largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil, the world's largest exporter of beef.

Both of these sensitive biomes have been affected by severe drought in recent years that has been linked to climate change.

This has sent fires -- lit by farmers clearing pasture -- burning out of control.

In 2024, the record fires scorched almost 18 million hectares (44.5 million acres) of the Brazilian Amazon.

"If it weren't for the extremely severe weather conditions, with fires so far outside the historical norm ... we would probably have had the lowest (deforestation) rate in history this year," said Joao Paulo Capobianco, executive secretary in the environment ministry.

Deforestation soared in the Amazon under climate-skeptic former president Jair Bolsonaro, who weakened environmental protections and encouraged land clearing for economic growth.

- Undermined by oil push -

Lula has set about rebuilding Brazil's environmental agencies and positioning the country as a global leader on climate change.

However, he has come under fire for backing more oil exploration, which he argues will help finance the climate transition.

Brazil's state oil giant Petrobras this month started exploratory drilling near the mouth of the Amazon River, an area considered a promising new oil frontier.

The move -- backed by Lula -- enraged environmentalists who said it undermined Brazil's position as host of COP30.

F.Carpenteri--NZN