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A wildfire consumes land recently deforested by cattle farmers near Novo Progresso, Para state, Brazil, Aug. 23, 2020. (AP Photo\/Andre Penner, File)<\/p>\n
A wildfire consumes land recently deforested by cattle farmers near Novo Progresso, Para state, Brazil, Aug. 23, 2020. (AP Photo\/Andre Penner, File)<\/p>\n
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The Amazon is spread across nine countries in South America. Brazil has by far the largest chunk \u2014 more than 60% \u2014 meaning what happens in this section can impact the rest of forest. <\/p>\n
In Brazil, the official annual deforestation rate covers the period from August of the previous year to July of the current year. Preliminary data based on DETER, Brazil\u2019s official satellite-based system that provides real-time alerts, show that both deforestation and forest degradation have significantly declined since last year. <\/p>\n
However, degradation continues to outpace deforestation. From August 2025 through April 2026, deforestation alerts covered nearly 1,700 square kilometers (656 square miles), while degradation affected about 4,420 square kilometers (1,706 square miles).<\/p>\n
The DETER system provides environmental authorities with daily alerts of ongoing deforestation \u2014 complete clear-cutting \u2014 and degradation, which are areas affected by human activity where soil is exposed but the forest has not yet been fully lost.<\/p>\n
During the 2023 and 2024 El Nino, temperatures rose 2 to 4 Celsius (3.5 to 7 Fahrenheit) above the forest\u2019s historical average. Associated with severe drought, the heat fueled the Amazon\u2019s worst wildfires in two decades, and forest degradation increased at a rate roughly three times greater than the decline in deforestation.<\/p>\n
The combined effect was a net loss of rainforest that undermined the deforestation progress, a study by Guilherme Mataveli, a researcher at Brazil\u2019s National Institute for Space Research, or INPE, showed. <\/p>\n
A degraded rainforest may still be standing, but it can no longer fully support the ecosystem. That weakness could be compounded by external factors like El Nino. For example, if the Amazon were a human patient with a chronic illness, El Nino would strike like a flu, triggering a fever that leaves the body weaker and more vulnerable. Two years later, the flu returns. But this time, the patient has not fully recovered. The fever burns hotter, and the illness hits harder.<\/p>\n
Assessing a forest in this state is relatively new to scientists, as identifying degradation through satellite images is more complex than tree-cutting. But they have increasingly warned about its prolonged and dangerous effect.<\/p>\n
This new scenario requires the government to prioritize forest restoration, experts say. Brazil plans to restore 12 million hectares (29.7 million acres) of native Amazon forest by 2030, as part of the commitment it made under the 2015 Paris Agreement. According to the Environment Ministry, 3.4 million hectares (8.4 million acres) are already undergoing recovery.<\/p>\n
Above all, the country must continue its efforts to curb deforestation, experts say. But a fast\u2011tracked bill in Congress threatens the main tool that enabled Brazil curb deforestation.<\/p>\n
Proposal would make key change in forest monitoring <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Fire brigade members work to put out a wildfire in Apui, Amazonas state, Brazil, Sept. 21, 2022. (AP Photo\/Edmar Barros, File)<\/p>\n Fire brigade members work to put out a wildfire in Apui, Amazonas state, Brazil, Sept. 21, 2022. (AP Photo\/Edmar Barros, File)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n If approved, the legislation, proposed by lawmaker Lucio Mosquini, would prohibit IBAMA, Brazil\u2019s environmental enforcement agency, from imposing sanctions on landowners for illegal deforestation based solely on satellite monitoring, a pillar of the country\u2019s environmental enforcement.<\/p>\n Mosquini said satellite-based sanctions harm farmers because they are not given a chance to mount a defense. Authorities, however, say farmers can challenge the sanction within 20 days and have it overturned if they can show the deforestation was authorized.<\/p>\n IBAMA first began relying on satellite data in 2016 to complement field inspections and support deforestation control in remote areas. Former President Jair Bolsonaro\u2019s administration halted the policy in 2019 as part of its environmental deregulation efforts, which drove Amazon deforestation rates to a 15-year high in 2021. Under Lula, who returned to office in 2023 after previously being president between 2003-2010, the environmental agency resumed remote monitoring.<\/p>\n Since March, the proposal has been set for an eventual vote by Congress\u2019 lower chamber. If it passes, it would move to the Senate. Since agribusiness is the country\u2019s most powerful economic sector and most influential in Congress, political experts expect it to be approved. <\/p>\n If approved, the project would be \u201ca major environmental setback,\u201d Jair Schmitt, IBAMA\u2019s president, told The Associated Press. \u201cIn effect, you end up encouraging environmental offenders and unfair competition.\u201d<\/p>\n Satellite technology supports environmental enforcement much as speed cameras assist traffic authorities, Schmitt said. It would be impossible for a city to deploy a guard to every corner. Likewise, the federal government cannot station agents to every on every square kilometer of the rainforest. <\/p>\n Authorities on high alert with prospect of bad wildfire season<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A wildfire burns in the Amazon in the municipality of Manaquiri in Brazil\u2019s Amazonas state, Sept. 6, 2023. (AP Photo\/Edmar Barros)<\/p>\n A wildfire burns in the Amazon in the municipality of Manaquiri in Brazil\u2019s Amazonas state, Sept. 6, 2023. (AP Photo\/Edmar Barros)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n In March, the government announced the hiring of 4,600 firefighters and launched real\u2011time monitoring of potential fire outbreaks. Schmitt, the IBAMA president, said authorities have identified rural properties at high fire risk by combining historical heat-spot data with deforestation and weather records. Some landowners are now being notified and ordered to adopt preventive measures.<\/p>\n \u201cThe situation this year is worrying. We\u2019re still in the rainy season, and we\u2019ve already recorded two fires in April,\u201d said Tainan Kumaruara, a member of the Indigenous volunteer Guardioes Kumaruara fire brigade, in the Kumaruara Indigenous land in Para state.<\/p>\n \u201cThe forest is different from what it was 10 years ago. It\u2019s much drier. The trees no longer behave as they did,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n In 2024, a major wildfire season fueled by severe drought affected more than 17 million hectares (42 million acres) of rainforest, according to MapBiomas, a nonprofit that tracks land use. Most wildfires in the Amazon are not natural but rather started by humans. <\/p>\n Amid the warnings, a study publish in April by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences added more evidence about how the Amazon recovers from fire.<\/p>\n To study long-term effects, for 20 years Leandro Maracahipes, a Yale University researcher supported by the Brazilian nonprofit Instituto Serrapilheira, set controlled fires at a research farm in the Amazon that was also exposed to drought.<\/p>\n The study found that after frequent wildfires, the forest did not completely disappear or transform into savanna, or widespread grassland, contrary to what scientific models had predicted. It remained a rainforest but degraded, with more clearings and vulnerability, lacking Amazon niche species that depend on dense cover and specific conditions \u2014 and time \u2014 to germinate and grow.<\/p>\n \u201cThe forest is resilient, but our message is that we need to preserve it even more, and urgently,\u201d Maracahipes said. \u201cAnd it has to be now.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAO PAULO (AP) \u2014 The administration of Brazilian President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva frequently touts how it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[269],"tags":[29076,21573,377,45761,13642,3898,3477,18,440,24500,3334,211292,19,1297,17,33406,211293,11992,211291,105384,163960,133,13647,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-483151","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-amazon-river","9":"tag-amazon-com","10":"tag-brazil","11":"tag-brazil-government","12":"tag-central-america","13":"tag-climate","14":"tag-climate-and-environment","15":"tag-eire","16":"tag-environment","17":"tag-forests","18":"tag-general-news","19":"tag-guilherme-mataveli","20":"tag-ie","21":"tag-inc","22":"tag-ireland","23":"tag-jair-bolsonaro","24":"tag-jair-schmitt","25":"tag-latin-america","26":"tag-lucio-mosquini","27":"tag-luiz-incio-lula-da-silva","28":"tag-sanctions-and-embargoes","29":"tag-science","30":"tag-south-america","31":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116569147360786765","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Fire](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778703935_49_.jpeg\")
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