Brazil’s Amazon sees a sharp decline in area burned by 2025.

In the year In 2024, the Amazon rainforest was hit by the worst wildfires in more than two decades, which the Copernicus Climate Change Service puts on “climate extremes and human activity”.

“The figures for 2025 are important and show that it is possible to reduce the area burned in the country,” said Vera Arruda, a researcher at the Institute for Environmental Research of the Amazon (IPAM) and coordinator of Map Biomass, to the BBC.

“The 31% reduction compared to the historical average – mainly due to the lowest number of fires recorded in the Amazon in 41 years – is positive news, but it does not yet allow us to conclude that this is a confirmed trend or to reduce prevention efforts,” Arruda added.

The MapBiomas report shows a dramatic reduction in the area burned by 2025, not only in the Amazon, but throughout Brazil.

Around 12.7 million hectares will burn in Brazil by 2025, compared to 30 million hectares by 2024, the figures show.

The highest number of hectares burned in Brazil since records began was in 2007, reaching 30.7 million in the country.

The decline in 2025 figures is due in part to 2015, which was helped by a cooler La Nina rather than a warmer El Niño.

But MapBiomas has warned that the natural climate of El Nino, global warming, may prolong this year’s dry season and increase forest fires.