Tropical Rainforest Loss Dropped 36% in 2025, Driven by a Sharp Reduction in Brazil

On April 29, 2026, the University of Maryland's GLAD Lab and the World Resources Institute (WRI) released new satellite data showing that tropical primary rainforest loss fell 36% in 2025 compared with the record-breaking year of 2024. The world still lost 4.3 million hectares (10.6 million acres) of primary rainforest — an area roughly the size of Denmark — but the trend reversal is significant after years of acceleration.

Brazil drove much of the global improvement. The country, home to the largest portion of the Amazon, cut non-fire primary forest loss 41% in 2025 compared to 2024, reaching its lowest level on record. WRI links the decline to stronger environmental policies and enforcement under the Lula administration, including the relaunched PPCDAm anti-deforestation plan and steeper penalties for environmental crimes.

The picture is not uniformly bright. Climate-driven fires remain a serious threat: in 2025, fires accounted for 42% of total tree-cover loss worldwide — about 25.5 million hectares, or an area slightly larger than the United Kingdom. Despite the improvement, primary forest loss is still 46% higher than a decade ago, and the world remains off track from the 2030 zero-deforestation pledge made at the Glasgow climate summit.

Still, the WRI/UMD data show that policy works. Where governments enforce protection, hold supply chains accountable and partner with Indigenous communities, deforestation falls. The 36% global drop is the strongest signal yet that the steep increases of the last few years are not destiny. The harder work — keeping the trend going through hotter, drier years and tighter budgets — begins now.