How Lula fares in Brazil’s upcoming presidential election could have a big influence over forest protection efforts, which have improved under his administration. (Photo by Antonio Scorza/Shutterstock)
Last year Brazil lost significantly less tropical primary forest than in 2024—the result, conservation experts say, of fewer severe wildfires and improved forest-protection efforts under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Home to about two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest, Brazil led a global decline in forest loss, according to the Global Forest Review, a World Resources Institute (WRI) study that uses data collected by the University of Maryland. The study indicates 4.3 million hectares (10.6 million acres) of primary tropical forest were destroyed worldwide in 2025, down from 6.7 million hectares in 2024, when drought in tropical forests fed record fires worldwide. Still, Brazil lost more tropical primary forest than any other country in 2025 and Latin America destroyed forests faster than any region, says the WRI study. Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia lost a combined 2.5 million hectares (6.2 million acres) of primary tropical forest, over... [Log in to read more]
