Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest fell to its lowest level since records began a decade ago, with 2,900 square kilometres of forest lost in the period from August 2024 to July 2025, according to satellite data from Brazil's national space agency INPE. This marks a sharp decline from 4,500 square kilometres recorded in the same period a year earlier, continuing a downward trend since left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva returned to office in 2023. Lula, who has pledged to end illegal deforestation by 2030 ahead of a planned bid for a fourth presidential term in October, said the figures showed the target was within reach — a stark contrast to the record 10,000 square kilometres lost annually under his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence for a post-election coup attempt.