BRASÍLIA: The Brazilian Amazon experienced its smallest amount of yearly deforestation in nearly a decade, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government reported Wednesday, in line with its promise to combat forest loss.

Deforestation fell by 30.6% in the year-to-year period beginning in August 2023, according to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE).

During that time, 6,288 square kilometres of forest were destroyed, which INPE Director Gilvan Oliveira said was “the lowest result in the last nine years.”

Over the last century, the Amazon rainforest – which covers nearly 40% of South America – has lost about 20% of its area to deforestation, due to the spread of agriculture and cattle ranching, logging and mining, and urban sprawl.

Lula has pledged to put a stop to illegal deforestation of the Amazon by 2030 but faces a string of vested interests.

In addition to the Amazon, destruction of the Cerrado, the most species-rich savanna in the world, which is located in central Brazil, was reduced by 25.7% or 8,174 square kilometres, INPE reported.

The two different biomes were recently hit by historic drought and the subsequent spread of wildfires.

Environment Minister Marina Silva welcomed the “significant drop” as a part of Brazil’s push to reduce carbon emissions, just days before participating in the COP29 UN climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Deforestation dramatically worsened under Lula’s far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, whose administration saw Amazon deforestation shoot up 75% compared to the average of the previous decade.