Environmentalists hail decline but warn weakened laws could reverse gains

Tiago Rogero in Rio de Janeiro

Brazil’s Atlantic forest, the country’s most threatened biome, last year recorded its lowest level of deforestation since monitoring began 40 years ago, a new report shows. The forest is Brazil’s most populous biome, and home to 80% of the population and major cities such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In 2025 it recorded 8,658 hectares of deforestation, marking the first time it has fallen below 10,000 hectares since 1985.

Environmentalists have welcomed the results, which they say could even lead to “zero deforestation” in the Atlantic forest within just a few years, but warned of potential risks that could reverse the downward trend of recent years.

One is the recent approval of the so-called “devastation bill” in Brazil’s congress that drastically weakens environmental law.

The other is the prospect of a far-right government, opposed to environmental protection policies, returning to power in the October presidential election: Flávio Bolsonaro, the senator and son of the former president Jair Bolsonaro, is tied in the polls with the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who will seek re-election.

“It’s a very worrying scenario,” said Luís Fernando Guedes Pinto, executive director of the NGO SOS Mata Atlântica, who added that, with a victory for Bolsonaro, “Brazil could lose the opportunity to be a global environmental leader”.

During the elder Bolsonaro’s 2019–23 administration, his policies led to a historic surge in deforestation and a gold rush into Indigenous lands. Many scientists, environmentalists and activists fear such rampant destruction could return if his son, who has vowed to follow his father’s playbook, comes to power….

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/14/brazil-atlantic-forest-deforestation-record

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