Brasilia, Aug. 13, 2026 (Lusa) – Brazil has lost 14% of its native vegetation cover in 41 years, with the area covered by natural formations falling from 79% to 65% of the country's surface area, according to data released by the environmental monitoring network MapBiomas.
The MapBiomas survey, based on satellite imagery, shows that agriculture and livestock farming expanded from 18% to 32% of Brazil's land area between 1985 and 2025.
Over the course of 41 years, around a third of Brazil's land area underwent at least one change in land cover or land use, whilst 67% remained stable.
Between 1985 and 2025, 241 million hectares underwent changes in land cover and land use; of this total, 136 million hectares of native vegetation were converted to agricultural and livestock areas.
The Amazon lost 53.9 million hectares of native vegetation during this period, whilst the Cerrado lost 51.7 million hectares – the largest absolute reductions among the biomes, according to MapBiomas.
In proportional terms, the Cerrado and the Pampa recorded the greatest losses, at 34% and 32% respectively, according to MapBiomas.
The Atlantic Forest, meanwhile, saw a 12% reduction, but continues to have the lowest proportion of native vegetation.
Despite the cumulative trend, the rate of conversion of natural areas has slowed in recent years; in 2025, Brazil recorded less than one million hectares of deforestation.
This figure represented a 20.6% decrease compared with 2024 and was the first time the figure had fallen below one million hectares since the MapBiomas Alerta series began in 2019.
Agriculture and livestock farming covered 273.3 million hectares in 2025, compared with 150.2 million in 1985, whilst pastureland accounted for 60.6% of this area, and arable farming covered 66.5 million hectares.
The data highlight the increased exposure of land use to extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods, which are exacerbated during El Niño years.
Cross-referencing land cover and land use maps with rainfall data shows that the impacts of El Niño are greater in areas dominated by agriculture and livestock farming than in those dominated by forests.
The difference is particularly evident in the Amazon, according to the study, which analysed three recent episodes of strong El Niño events, occurring in 1997/98, 2015/16 and 2023/24.
The data indicate that Brazilian biomes have experienced increasingly intense droughts or rainfall during the most severe El Niño episodes, such as the one expected in 2026.
The Amazon region recorded the greatest precipitation deficit among the biomes in the three events analysed.
MYMA/AYLS // AYLS
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