---
title: "Amazon deforestation falls to its lowest level in a decade under Lula"
description: "Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon has dropped to its lowest level in about a decade, according to government satellite data, a marked turnaround under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after years of rising destruction. Officials credit tougher enforcement, though fires and stubborn regional clearing show the fight is far from won."
category: "World"
category_url: https://herald.la/category/world
author: "Gabriela Soto"
published: 2026-07-10T22:58:00.000Z
updated: 2026-07-10T22:58:00.000Z
canonical: https://herald.la/article/amazon-deforestation-falls-to-its-lowest-level-in-a-decade-under-lula
tags: ["amazon", "brazil", "deforestation", "climate", "environment"]
---
# Amazon deforestation falls to its lowest level in a decade under Lula

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon has dropped to its lowest level in about a decade, according to government satellite data, a marked turnaround under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after years of rising destruction. Officials credit tougher enforcement, though fires and stubborn regional clearing show the fight is far from won.

There is a rare piece of good news out of the world's largest rainforest: the chainsaws have gone quieter.

## The numbers

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen to its lowest level in roughly a decade, according to data from Brazil's space research institute, [Al Jazeera reported](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/10/under-lula-amazon-deforestation-falls-to-lowest-level-in-a-decade). The decline continues a downward trend since President Lula returned to office in 2023, a sharp reversal from the surge in clearing recorded under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. Brazil monitors the forest by satellite, giving the figures a firm, measurable basis.

## What changed

The government attributes much of the improvement to a renewed crackdown on the illegal logging, ranching and mining that drive Amazon destruction. Enforcement agencies have stepped up fines, embargoes and violation notices compared with the previous administration, [Al Jazeera reported](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/10/under-lula-amazon-deforestation-falls-to-lowest-level-in-a-decade). Lula has made protecting the Amazon a signature promise, pledging to drive illegal deforestation to zero by 2030, and has sought to position Brazil as a climate leader, having hosted the COP30 climate summit in the Amazonian city of Belém.

## The caveats

The progress is real but partial. Even as clearing has slowed, wildfires have flared, fueled by drought, and the trend is uneven across the country: some agricultural frontier states have seen deforestation rise even as others post steep declines, [Al Jazeera reported](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/10/under-lula-amazon-deforestation-falls-to-lowest-level-in-a-decade). Conservationists caution that the satellite figures capture outright clearing better than slower forms of degradation, and that pressure on other ecosystems, like the neighboring Cerrado savanna, remains intense.

## Why it matters

The Amazon is one of the planet's most important carbon stores and a bulwark against climate change, and the pace of its loss has global consequences. A sustained decline in deforestation is exactly what climate scientists have urged for years. The open question is whether the gains can hold, through shifting politics, market pressures and a warming climate that makes the forest itself more flammable. For now, though, the trend line is pointing the right way, and in the Amazon, that is not something to take for granted.