What’s right: Brazil cuts Amazon fires by 65% in July

Brazil is showing real progress in protecting the Amazon rainforest. According to MapBiomas satellite data, the area burned by fires in the Amazon this July dropped 65% compared to the same month last year — from massive devastation under drought to more hope under stronger rainy seasons.

Here’s what the numbers look like: in July, about 143,000 hectares were burned in the Amazon, far below last year’s figure. Across Brazil, 748,000 hectares went up in flames in July — a 40% drop from the previous year. Over the first seven months of 2025, total burned area is down 59% from the same period in 2024.

Experts point to several reasons for this drop: a more intense, sustained rainy season, better enforcement and surveillance of land‐clearing activities, and the lasting impacts from last year’s fires making people more cautious.

Brazil’s government, under President Lula, has renewed its international commitments — including to end Amazon deforestation by 2030 — just ahead of hosting the COP30 climate conference in Belém. This drop is perhaps the clearest sign yet that policy, nature, and community action can combine to slow down climate damage. That’s what’s right with the world.