Amazon rainforest fires hit 40‑year low in 2025

The MapBiomas monitoring network reported that the Amazon basin recorded only 3.1 million hectares burned in 2025, the smallest area since the series began 40 years ago. This represents an 80 percent drop from the record 15.8 million hectares in 2024, when an extreme drought drove fire expansion.

Across Brazil, total burned area fell to 12.7 million hectares in 2025 – a 31 percent decline from the historic average and the lowest national total since 2018. The reduction was driven mainly by the Amazon, while the Cerrado biome remained the most affected, with 8.7 million hectares (about 69 percent of the national total). The Pantanal, Caatinga and Pampa saw much smaller burned extents.

MapBiomas attributes the drop to a wetter season that delayed the traditional fire‑prone window, increased firefighting capacity, and a decline in deforestation under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s policies. However, researchers warn that the risk of a forthcoming “Super‑El Niño” could reignite fire danger, and that rapid fire recurrence – with roughly one‑third of previously burned areas igniting again within two years – hampers forest recovery.