Brazil registers a significant drop in wildfire outbreaks in the first half of 2025.
The number of wildfires has fallen by 46% compared to 2024, according to INPE.
247 - Brazil experienced a significant reduction in the number of wildfires during the first six months of 2025. According to data released by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), the country recorded 19.277 fires during this period, representing a 46% decrease compared to the 35.938 fires recorded in the first half of 2024, reports the newspaper. The Globe.
The survey, based on satellite images, shows that the states with the highest number of fire records this year were Mato Grosso (3.538), Tocantins (2.623), Bahia (1.992), and Maranhão (1.946). Together, these four accounted for more than half of the fires in the country. Pará, a state that traditionally appears among the top of the ranking, is now in fifth position, with 1.203 hotspots—a 37% decrease compared to the same period last year.
Despite the positive results in containing the fires, the data contrasts with another environmental indicator: deforestation. According to information from the Ministry of the Environment, the Amazon, which will host COP30 in November, saw an increase in vegetation loss for the second consecutive month. In May 2025, deforestation reached 960 km², a 92% increase compared to the same month in 2024.
Experts attribute this apparent contradiction to a mismatch between the use of fire and the recording of vegetation removal. Since fire does not necessarily cause the instantaneous felling of trees, monitoring systems may only now be identifying the so-called "clear-cuts" caused by fires that occurred last year.
Researcher Luciana Vanni Gatti, coordinator of the Greenhouse Gas Laboratory at INPE (National Institute for Space Research), highlighted the seriousness of the situation faced in 2024. "The area that burned last year is gigantic. I believe that the increase in deforestation amidst the decrease in fire outbreaks may be the result of the efforts of deforesters to complete the extraction of resources from the burned areas in 2024," she stated.
In 2024, the country faced one of the worst climate crises of the decade, driven by the El Niño phenomenon, which brought intense drought and fueled the spread of fires in biomes, especially in the Amazon. The current decrease in fire outbreaks can be attributed to changes in climatic conditions and the strengthening of monitoring and enforcement actions.
