Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest falls to lowest since 2015

By Lisandra Paraguassu and Jake Spring

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon fell 30.6% in the 12 months through July compared to the same period a year prior, according to government data released on Wednesday -- the smallest area destroyed in the world's largest rainforest in nine years.

Roughly 6,288 square km (2,428 square miles) of Amazon were destroyed, an area larger than the U.S. state of Delaware, data from Brazil's space research agency Inpe showed. Scientists consider the Amazon's protection vital to curbing climate change because of the vast amount of climate-warming carbon dioxide its trees absorb.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office nearly two years ago on a promise to step up enforcement of environmental laws to rein in deforestation, which had skyrocketed under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.

"What was presented here today is the fruit of our labor," said Environment Minister Marina Silva.

"It is possible for us to confront climate change," Silva said.

The data, which is not measured according to the calendar year because of intense cloud cover in the November to April rainy season, is the first full annual measure under Lula. Amazon deforestation has fallen by nearly half compared to the final full year under Bolsonaro.

Lula has pledged to end deforestation in the country by 2030 in his bid to restore Brazil's climate credentials, with the country also set to host the United Nations COP30 climate talks in the Amazon rainforest region next year.

Lula's government has promised to further bolster enforcement next year by hiring some 800 new federal environmental agents, the largest hiring drive in more than a decade.

The data similarly showed a drop in deforestation in the Amazon's neighboring Cerrado savanna of roughly 26% to 8,174 sq km, the lowest since 2020.

(Reporting by Lisandra Parguassu and Jake Spring; Editing by Sandra Maler)