GNV News, March 7, 2025

From August 2023 to July 2024, it was revealed that 91% of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon was illegal and carried out without permits. Illegal deforestation is defined as the share of forest clearing detected by the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) satellite monitoring system that is not recorded in the federal and state deforestation permit databases.

In Brazil, deforestation on private land for economic use is legal, and in the Amazon rainforest up to 20% of a property can be cleared with a government-issued permit. However, only eight of the 16 states have fully integrated their state data into the National Forest Management System (Sinaflor), a situation in which other states manage data only at the state level, and this fragmented system limits monitoring of illegal deforestation and creates a lack of transparency. Therefore, efforts are underway to centralize records into a single system by mandating the use of the National Forest Management System.

The issue of illegal deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon is closely linked to the broader challenge of biodiversity conservation. The financing mechanism approved at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16) could play an important role in restoring ecosystems, including forest protection. In addition, with the 30th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP30) to be held in 2025, the launch of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), proposed by Brazil, is also forthcoming, raising expectations for progress in forest conservation.

Learn more about TFFF → “World: What is the new fund TFFF to protect forests?”

Learn more about deforestation → “Malaysia: Can deforestation be stopped?”

Illegal logging site in the Amazon (Photo: Joelle Hernandez / Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])