🌅 Today’s stat: 46%

Author

Sunrise Stat
February 26, 2025

46% - The decline in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon since President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office in 2022.

Uncover the power of a single statistic: Sign up for Sunrise Stat to find your intellectual clarity.

SOURCE
WHAT TO KNOW

  • The Brazilian Amazon lost roughly 6,300 square kilometers of rainforest in 2024 (about the size of Delaware), down from 11,600 square kilometers in 2022, before Lula da Silva took office. This isn’t the first time deforestation has fallen under Lula’s watch: rates fell by 75% during his first two terms from 2003 to 2011.

WHY IT MATTERS

  • Deforestation in the Amazon reached a 15-year high under previous far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who left office in 2022 (though apparently not before attempting to stage a coup). Deforestation also fell in the Colombian Amazon in 2023, plunging 36% to the lowest level on record.

CONNECT THE DOTS

  • While deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell, degradation (the loss of vegetation and ability to provide critical ecological functions) skyrocketed 497% over the past year, largely due to wildfires fueled by two consecutive years of extreme drought conditions. Degradation is a significant driver of climate change, accounting for nearly 70% of carbon emissions associated with tropical forests from 2003 to 2014 (deforestation was responsible for the other 30%).