The 748,000-hectare area burned represents a reduction of 40% compared to the same month in 2024

August 21, 2025

July recorded the smallest burned area since the MapBiomas Fire Monitor began tracking data in 2019. A total of 748,000 hectares were burned—a 40% reduction compared to the same month in 2024, with 510,000 fewer hectares burned. In 2019, the year the historical series began, 1.01 million hectares were burned.

Of the total area burned in July, 76.5% occurred in native vegetation, with the majority affecting savanna formations, which accounted for 36% of the area burned that month. Among agricultural and livestock areas, pastures stood out, accounting for 14.3% of the area burned in July 2025.

The Cerrado—a biome composed mainly of savanna formations—had 571,000 hectares burned in July, which corresponds to 76% of the total area burned in Brazil that month. The area burned in July of this year was 16% lower than in the same period of 2024. Next comes the Amazon, with 143,000 hectares burned, a 65% decrease compared to the same month of the previous year.

“The July data from the Fire Monitor underscore the Cerrado’s central role in Brazil’s fire management agenda. Even with the recorded decline, the biome continues to account for the majority of burned areas. The start of the dry season is the most critical period, marked by the accumulation of dry combustible material and a high risk of major fires. It is precisely at this time that prevention efforts must be intensified, since the main sources of ignition are human-caused,” explains Vera Arruda, a researcher at IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute) and technical coordinator of MapBiomas Fogo.

The states with the most fires last month are also located entirely or partially in the Cerrado: Tocantins (203,000 hectares), Mato Grosso (126,000 hectares), and Maranhão (121,000 hectares). In the case of the municipalities with the largest burned areas in July, all are located in the Cerrado: Lagoa da Confusão (TO), with 52,600 hectares; Mirador (MA), with 38,500 hectares; and Formoso do Araguaia (TO), with 34,800 hectares burned.

"After two years of severe droughts in the Amazon in 2023 and 2024, which culminated in record number of fires in the biome, the significant reduction in burned area in 2025 can be attributed to at least two main factors. The primary one is the return of rainfall, with a more intense and prolonged wet season, which hinders the practice and the spread of fire. Furthermore, the environmental and economic losses of 2024, combined with more intensive monitoring and recording of fires, may have led producers and communities to adopt greater caution with the practice, contributing to the drop in numbers," explains Felipe Martenexen, a researcher from IPAM and MapBiomas Fire.

In total, 2.45 million hectares were burned from January to July 2025 – a 59% reduction compared to the same period in 2024, with 3.6 million fewer hectares burned. From January to July 2024, 6.09 million hectares were affected by fire.

Most of the fire consumed native vegetation (75% of the burned area), primarily grassland formations, which accounted for 28.5% of the area burned in the first seven months of 2025. Among agricultural and livestock areas, pastures stood out, with 358,000 hectares burned between January and July 2025. Entre as áreas de uso agropecuário, as pastagens se destacaram, com 358 mil hectares queimados entre janeiro e julho de 2025.

The Cerrado was the biome with the largest burned area in the period, with 1.2 million hectares—half of the entire area burned in Brazil in 2025. In the Amazon, an area of 1.1 million hectares was burned between January and July, a 70% reduction compared to the same period the previous year. This figure represents the smallest area burned in the Amazon for this period since 2019.

Two of the three states with the most fire activity last month lead the ranking for burned area between January and July this year: Tocantins, with 467,000 hectares (19% of all burned area in Brazil in this period); Roraima, with 426,600 hectares; and Maranhão, with 329,700 hectares. Together, these three states accounted for 50% of the area burned in the period. The municipalities of Pacaraima (Roraima) and Normandia (Roraima) recorded the largest burned areas between January and July 2025, with 122,800 hectares and 122,000 hectares burned, respectively.

Between January and July, 13,000 hectares burned in the Pantanal. This area represents a 97% reduction (a drop of 563,000 hectares) compared to the previous year. Native vegetation concentrated 94% of the burned area, and 86% occurred in grassland formations.

In the Atlantic Forest, 61,000 hectares were burned between January and July 2025, with 79.5% of the affected area in farming and ranching zones. In July, 24,000 hectares were burned, an 8% increase compared to the previous average. The most impacted anthropic class was pasture, with 6,000 hectares burned in July.

In the Pampa, the area burned between January and July 2025 was 9,300 hectares, with 93% of the area affected within native vegetation. In the Caatinga, 31,000 hectares were burned between January and July 2025, a 54% increase compared to the same period in 2024, with 67.6% of the burned areas concentrated in savanna formations.