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The Amazon recorded a 42% drop in deforestation in February, from 119 km² in 2025 to 69 km² in 2026, which is equivalent to 5,000 football fields. In Acre, deforestation detected in February was 3%, the lowest percentage in the Legal Amazon, along with Maranhão.
This was the smallest area of forest felled in February in eight years, since 2017. The other states record higher percentages: Mato Grosso (32%), Roraima (29%), Pará (23%), Amazonas (6%) and Rondônia (4%).
Acre and Maranhão record a lower percentage of deforestation/Photo: Imazon
The data comes from the Deforestation Alert System (SAD) from the research institute Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazônia (Imazon), which has been monitoring the forest using satellite images since 2008.
Degraded forests in the Legal Amazon totaled 13 km² in February 2026, which represents a 7% reduction compared to February 2025, when the degradation detected was 14 km².
Fires
The number of fires also decreased in Acre, which in 2026 reached the lowest number of fires in the last seven years. Data from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), verified on March 20, indicate that the state has recorded only 4 occurrences to date, a 90% drop compared to 2025, when 40 outbreaks were recorded.
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The 2026 result represents the best performance since 2020 and occurs after a period of fluctuations in the indices, with peaks and reductions over the years. The data shows how the scenario varied until reaching the current level:
- 2020: 17 outbreaks
- 2021: 8 focuses
- 2022: 27 outbreaks
- 2023: 9 focuses
- 2024: 19 outbreaks
- 2025: 40 outbreaks
- 2026: 4 outbreaks (lowest index in the series)
