How is Amazon losing its forests? Key findings from the EC JRC report

A report prepared by the European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC) on deforestation and forest degradation in the Amazon was published in January 2025. It provides an overview of recent changes, focusing on Brazil, where the largest part of the Amazon forest lies.

Why is monitoring Amazon’s changes crucial?

Understanding changes in the Amazon rainforest is crucial to developing effective strategies for its protection. By identifying vulnerable areas and understanding the underlying drivers of deforestation, degradation and regrowth, informed and targeted interventions can be planned and implemented to mitigate the crisis. In addition to identifying threats and the state of deforestation, the report also offers suggestions for countermeasures.

The report, entitledDeforestation and forest degradation in the Amazon – Update for year 2023 and assessment of humid forest regrowth, can be downloaded from the website of the Publications Office of the European Union.

Why Amazon is losing its forests – general context

The Amazon rainforest complex covers an area of nearly 7 million square ^kilometers and encompasses the pristine lands of 9 South American countries. It is estimated that the Amazon rainforest is home to about 10 percent of all plant and animal species living on Earth.

Amazonian forests play a key role in regulating the global climate, absorbing large amounts of carbon dioxide and producing oxygen, which helps reduce the greenhouse effect. That’s why they are called the green lungs of the world for good reason.

The Amazon rainforests also have a very strong influence on the continent’s water cycle. In the water cycle process, forests increase evaporation through transpiration (loss of water through the leaves). The water vapor emitted forms clouds in the atmosphere that move over the Andes, supplying water to rivers, lakes, soils and back to the rainforest. In the Amazon, an estimated 50-80 percent remains within the ecosystem each cycle. water.

When forests are cut down, the amount of water released into the atmosphere decreases and thus rainfall decreases, sometimes resulting in drought. Therefore, the Amazon rainforest is an important ecosystem, facing threats mainly from deforestation and degradation.

JRC report

Published in January 2025, the report includes a discussion of the factors causing deforestation. Among the causes, it identifies agricultural expansion and forest degradation, such as through illegal or unsustainable logging or fires. It stresses that this causes serious consequences for biodiversity or climate. One of the report’s chapters describes the spatial distribution and changes over time in the extent of Amazonian forests, and provides a detailed analysis of the dynamics of their growth and value in relation to biodiversity and carbon storage.

By identifying vulnerable areas and explaining the factors underlying deforestation, forest degradation and regrowth, the report identifies possible interventions to mitigate threats. Understanding forest change is crucial to developing an effective conservation strategy for the Amazon.

Conclusions of the report – diagnosis of the degradation of the Amazon forest

The report indicates that 2023 saw a decrease of 18.8 percent in forest disturbance in the Amazon, including deforestation and forest degradation, while it should be added that several regions saw an increase of around 90 percent. For 2024, the Brazilian Amazon shows a further decrease in deforestation of 17.9 percent, while forest degradation increased by 375 percent, mainly through an increase (over 900 percent) in the number of fires. The report indicates that most of these, resulting in the largest area of burned forest, are the result of arson.

Droughts in the Amazon region not only affect vegetation, animals and people, but also make the forest more susceptible to fires. The report indicates that in the Amazon region, droughts are not part of a natural cycle and have anthropogenic origins.

Conclusions of the report – measures to prevent degradation of Amazon forests

A measure that can stop the degradation of the Amazon, the report points out, is the protection of areas of secondary forest and forest regrowth.

Secondary forests grow in places where the primary forest stand has been cut or destroyed. They are a buffer for adjacent primary forests, reducing the forest edge effect that can lead to negative impacts on forest structure. In addition, secondary forests play an important role as a carbon sink and restore biodiversity.

In the Amazon, secondary forests are mainly found in regions such as the Brazilian arc of deforestation, the northern, western and southern borders of the Amazon forest in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, as well as in the more populated areas along the Amazon River.

The fate of Amazonian forests, the report’s authors point out, is inextricably linked to Brazilian politics. The country’s current government has backed the authority of institutions to monitor forests and enforce environmental laws, resulting in restrictions on the conversion of Amazonian forests to pasture or farmland. The extent to which the government treats environmental efforts, halting deforestation and degradation and protecting the rights of indigenous communities, will have a significant impact on the health of the Amazon and its global ecological significance.

Brazil, as it prepares to host the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30), which is planned for Belém in late 2025, should continue to make the right choices for the sustainable development of the Amazon region, the report’s authors point out.