- January-July 2019 Deforestation: 4,303 square kilometers (1,661 square miles), this is higher than the 3,960 square kilometers lost during the same period in 2018, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE)
- Deforestation Compared to 2018: Deforestation in the first seven months of 2019 in the Brazilian Amazon was 27.8 percent higher than in that period in 2018. It was also higher than the 25 year average for January through July (3,016 square kilometers).
- Deforestation in 2018: INPE reported that 7,900 square kilometers (3,050 square miles) of the Brazilian Amazon was cleared in 2018, the highest annual rate of deforestation since 2008, when loggers and ranchers cleared an area of more than 11,000 square kilometers (4,200 square miles).
Fire Data
- Fires in 2019 vs 2018: Between January 1 and August 21, 2019, more than 75,000 fires were detected in Brazil, of which more than 52,000 were located in the Amazon region. This compares with 40,000 fires detected throughout Brazil during the same period in 2018, including 23,000 fires in the Amazon region.
- Number of Fires in June to September: The number of fires in the Brazilian Amazon typically increases during the dry season, which runs from June through September, and fires peak typically in August and September. There were 10,133 fires in August 2019, an 83% increase from August 2018, as reported by INPE. August 2019 had the most fires ever recorded by INPE in any single month.
