The Amazon ends 2024 with a 7% drop in deforestation, but a 497% increase in degradation

The degraded area increased due to burning, especially in August and September

 

In 2024, the Amazon rainforest had its second consecutive year of declining deforestation, after a sequence of five years with negative records of destruction. From January to December, 3,739 km² were cleared, 7% less than in the same period in 2023, when devastation reached 4,030 km².

Compared to 2022, when the area cleared in the Amazon was 10,362 km² from January to December, the area cleared in 2024 was 65% smaller. Despite the significant drop, the balance of forest lost last year represents more than a thousand soccer pitches a day. The data comes from the Deforestation Alert System (SAD) of the Imazon research institute, which has been monitoring the region using satellite images since 2008.

 

This result was achieved after a 21% drop in deforestation was recorded in December, following six consecutive months of increases. Some 85km² were cleared in the last month of 2024 and 108km² in 2023.

“At the beginning of 2025, we recommend that managers take advantage of the rainy season, known as the ‘Amazon winter’, to organize the efforts to protect the Amazon, since the trend is for deforestation to resume as soon as the rains subside. In addition to enforcement measures and punishing illegal deforesters, it is essential to set aside public lands, which do not yet have a defined use, for conservation as a measure to combat land grabbing,” says researcher Carlos Souza, coordinator of Imazon’s Amazon Monitoring Program.

Pará leads deforestation for the 9^th consecutive year

Among the states, the deforestation champion in 2024 was Pará, with 1,260 km² devastated. This area was 3% larger than the 1,228 km² of forest cleared in 2023 in Pará. As a result, Pará maintained its lead as the state with the most deforestation in the Amazon for the ninth consecutive year, since 2016. In 2015, Mato Grosso State topped the ranking.

Pará is also home to the indigenous land and conservation unit most devastated last year. The original Cachoeira Seca territory, located in the municipalities of Altamira, Placas and Uruará, lost 14 km² of forest in 2024, which is equivalent to 1,400 soccer fields. This area was 56% larger than the 9 km² cleared in 2023 on the indigenous land.

Among the conservation units, the most destroyed in the Amazon last year was the Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area (APA), located in the municipalities of Altamira and São Félix do Xingu, with 51 km² of cleared lands. Despite being 39% smaller than the area cleared in 2023, 83km², the forest area lost last year within the APA is equivalent to more than 5,000 soccer fields.

State	Deforestation from January to December 2023 (km²)	Deforestation from January to December 2024 (km²)	Variation
Pará	1,228	1,260	3%
Amazonas	877	820	-6%
Mato Grosso	864	629	-27%
Acre	333	464	39%
Roraima	206	203	-1%
Rondônia	321	191	-40%
Maranhão	162	148	-9%
Tocantins	21	17	-19%
Amapá	18	7	-61%

 

The second most deforested state in the Amazon in 2024 was Amazonas, with 820km². This was 6% less than in 2023, when 877km² were cleared. Nonetheless, the two municipalities that most destroyed the Amazon last year are located in the Amazon: Lábrea, with 134km², and Novo Aripuanã, with 119km², both located in the south of the state, on the border with Acre and Rondônia, a region called “Amacro”.

Third place went to Mato Grosso State, which deforested 629km² in 2024, 27% less than the previous year. Five other states also recorded a drop in deforestation: Roraima, Rondônia, Maranhão, Tocantins and Amapá.

Together with Pará, Acre also showed an increase in deforestation, but a much more significant one. In Acre, deforestation rose from 333km³ in 2023 to 464km² in 2024, a 39% increase. The state is also home to the third most deforested municipality in the Amazon last year: Feijó, at 111km². In this municipality, destruction increased by 44% compared to 2023, when 77km² of deforestation was recorded.

Degradation increases six-fold in the Amazon

Unlike deforestation, which is the complete removal of vegetation, forest degradation caused by fire and logging increased six-fold in the Amazon in 2024. Some 36,379km² were degraded, 497% more than in 2023, when 6,092km² were affected.

 

Degradation in 2024 was the highest in the past 15 years, since 2009, when Imazon began monitoring this forest damage. Until then, the negative record was set in 2017, when 11,493km² were degraded. “This significant increase in the degraded area of the Amazon was due to the increase in fires, especially in August and September. In those two months, degradation grew by more than 1,000%,” says Larissa Amorim, a researcher at Imazon.

Carlos also points out that 2024 was a year of extreme drought in the region, which generates water stress and increases the forest’s vulnerability to fires. “There were two consecutive years of extreme drought in the Amazon, which even led to fires in the region’s wetlands. We hope this pattern doesn’t become the new normal. Carbon emissions from forest degradation associated with fires in 2024 exceeded emissions from deforestation,” warns the scientist.

Like deforestation, degradation also decreased in December after six consecutive months of increase. In the last month of the year, some 628km² were degraded, 40% less than in 2023: 1,050km². Despite the drop, the area affected by environmental damage in December last year was the second largest since 2009.

At the beginning of 2025, according to Larissa, degradation is expected to decrease. “Because of the rainy season in the Amazon, the forest areas affected by both deforestation and degradation are historically smaller in the first months of the year,” explains the researcher

Pará also led in degradation

Among the states, the largest degraded area last year was recorded in Pará: 17,195km². This was 421% greater than in 2023. Seven of the 10 municipalities that most degraded the Amazon last year are located in Pará: São Félix do Xingu (5,298km²), Ourilândia do Norte (1,937km²), Altamira (1,793km²), Novo Progresso (1,593km²), Cumaru do Norte (1,083km²), Itaituba (857km²) and Parauapebas (753km²).

In addition, the indigenous land and conservation unit that were the most degraded in 2024 are also located in Pará. The Kayapó territory, with 4,928km² degraded, and the APA Triunfo do Xingu, with 1,426km².

The second state to degrade the Amazon the most in 2024 was Mato Grosso, with 9,333km², a 767% increase over the previous year. Amazonas State ranked third, with 3,000km² affected, 291% more than in 2023.

State	Degradation from January to December 2023 (km²)	Degradation from January to December 2024 (km²)	Variation
Pará	3,298	17,195	421%
Mato Grosso	1,076	9,333	767%
Amazonas	767	3,000	291%
Rondônia	217	2,861	1,218%
Roraima	16	2,824	17,550%
Maranhão	294	627	113%
Tocantins	356	321	-10%
Acre	44	184	318%
Amapá	24	34	42%

 

See December figures here (in Portuguese)

Click here to access all the deforestation and degradation bulletins (in Portuguese)

Learn more about SAD here (in Portuguese)