Deforestation in 2023: way down in the Amazon, way up in the Cerrado

Compiled data from the real-time monitoring system Deter shows that Brazil managed to reduce deforestation in the Amazon biome by an astonishing 50 percent during the first year of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s third non-consecutive term as president.

Lula came into office in January last year, promising major reductions in Amazon destruction and setting a path to zero deforestation in the biome by 2030. Results so far are encouraging and will give the country plenty to boast about at multilateral climate venues.

From the 10,277 square kilometers of Amazon deforestation recorded in 2022, the total fell to just over 5,150 km² last year. 

However, the end-of-year photograph came out less pretty in Brazil’s Cerrado tropical savanna, where deforestation jumped 48 percent, rising from almost 5,500 km² in 2022 to more than 7,800 km² last year.

The Cerrado is Brazil’s second-largest biome (behind the Amazon) and is the world’s most species-rich savanna. It accounts for roughly one-quarter of the country’s total territory, straddling the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná, and the Federal District.

The Cerrado has long been home to Brazil’s soy belt, but the grain farming frontier has extended further into the savanna in recent years, particularly into the so-called Matopiba region — a portmanteau of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, and Bahia.

João Paulo Capobianco, Brazil’s deputy environment minister, recently blamed laxer environmental rules in the savanna for the spike in forest destruction. Unlike the Amazon, where farmers must preserve at least 80 percent of their properties, the requirement in the Cerrado is only 20 percent.

Deter satellites perform weekly checks for deforestation alerts and are the most used for up-to-date data on forest destruction. However, due to the natural rain cycle and drought in Brazil’s vast forest biomes, the “deforestation year” is traditionally measured from August to July, when the official Prodes satellite system discloses its figures.

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