Amazon: Fewer Forest Fires Than in 40 Years – Brazil Records Lowest Values Since 2018

The burned area in the Amazon was thus around 80 percent less than in the previous year. Across Brazil, the fire area in 2025 totaled 12.7 million hectares according to the annual report by the monitoring initiative MapBiomas. The figures are the lowest since 2018.

How MapBiomas Determines the Figures

The MapBiomas network consists of universities, non-governmental organizations, and technology companies and evaluates, among other things, satellite images. Frequently, trees are first felled and the cleared areas then set on fire to create new pasture and arable land, for instance for soy cultivation. When conditions are very dry, the fires often spiral out of control.

Brazil's tropical rainforests, including the Amazon region, however, exhibited a lower frequency of natural fires than other areas. Fire is a phenomenon that occurs in various Brazilian ecosystems and is triggered either naturally or through human activities. In general, forest fires across Brazil declined last year.

Weather and Water Bodies

After two years of drought, the water-covered areas in the Amazon region increased in 2025 due to higher precipitation. The water area was around 2.6 percent above the historical average. Climate change as well as changes in land use are causing instability in the region, according to experts.

Experts Warn of Long-Term Instability

Despite this recovery, the situation remains concerning in the long term. Climate change as well as changes in land use are causing instability in the region, according to experts. Researcher Bruno Ferreira stated, according to the report: „Doch trotz dieser Erholung ist die Lage langfristig weiterhin besorgniserregend, da in der Region extreme Wetterereignisse immer häufiger auftreten."