Source: Global Forest Watch
By Charlotte Jennings
The Amazon rainforest is the “Earth’s lungs.” The Amazon alone stores carbon equivalent to 15-20 years of global CO₂ emissions (Global Forest Watch, n.d.). The Amazon rainforest covers an area about the size of Australia, acting as one of the world’s largest carbon sinks. Yet, just like global forest cover, the Amazon continues to shrink.
Source: Brendão et al., 2025
Commodity-driven agricultural expansion is responsible for around 30% of global forest disturbance since 2000. Across global tropical regions, soy, palm oil, cattle, and cocoa are the main drivers of deforestation. At the epicenter of global forest loss is Brazil. With the largest tropical forest in the world, it is unsurprising that Brazil has experienced the highest absolute forest loss and degradation, mainly in the Cerrados and Amazon biomes. The Cerrado, Brazil’s second largest biome, is a tropical savanna that accounts for 21% of Brazil’s land area (around 2 million km sq). Yet, about 75% of the Cerrado’s land area is privately owned. Brazil lost 59.8 million hectares of tree cover, an area slightly larger than the country of Ukraine, between 2001 and 2020 (Brandão et al., 2025).
Sixty percent of Brazil’s land area was natural forest in 2020, covering over 511 million hectares (Mha). By 2024, the country had lost 4.44 Mha of natural forest, the equivalent of 1.82 gigatons of Co₂ emissions. Between 2001 and 2024, 73.3 Mha of tree cover (14% of tree cover area in 2000) was lost, 54 Mha of which was lost to permanent agriculture (Global Forest Watch, n.d.). The above map by Global Forest Watch displays this change in tree cover.
Source: Filho et al., 2021
Across South America, commodities like soybeans and beef are more profitable than standing forests, leading to deforestation. Brazil is the largest beef exporter in the world and nearly 40% of Brazilian cattle are reared in the nine states of the Brazilian Amazon. In fact, estimates show that around 70% of deforested land in the Amazon is used for cattle ranching (Filho et al., 2021).
After immense public pressure, the soy industry instituted a zero-deforestation policy called the Soy Moratorium in 2006. This policy greatly reduced soy-driven deforestation in the Amazon because commodities traders agreed not to purchase soybeans grown in areas deforested after 2008. However, the areas used to cultivate soybeans have more than doubled in South America in the last two decades. Between 2000 and 2014, more than 1.3 million hectares of native vegetation were cleared for soybean cultivation in Brazil alone, largely in the Cerrado. Only 0.85% of the Cerrado’s land is legally protected and about 75% of the Cerrado’s land area is privately owned.(Brandão et al., 2025). Unfortunately, Brazilian authorities suspended the Soy Moratorium earlier this week, potentially opening an area the size of Portugal (10 million hectares) to deforestation by farmers. An estimated 6,464 square miles (17,000 square kilometers) were saved from deforestation for soy farming due to the moratorium (Watts, 2025).
As global populations continue to grow, how do we feed more people? How can we feed growing populations if we are already farming unsustainably? How do we protect against deforestation?
The first step is to re-enact the Soy Moratorium and include significant protection for the Cerrados.
References
Brandão, J., Cardoso, F. C., & Garrett, R. (2025). Why has the Brazilian Cerrado been left
behind by voluntary environmental policies? Global Environmental Change, 92.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2025.103005
Filho, F. L. L., Bragança, A., & Assunção, J. (2021). The economics of cattle ranching in the
Amazon. Climate Policy Initiative.
https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Cattle-EN_3.pdf
Global Forest Watch. (n.d.). Brazil Deforestation Rates and Statistics.
https://www.globalforestwatch.org/dashboards/country/BRA/
Global Forest Watch. (n.d.). Brazil Interactive Deforestation Map.
Hofmann, G.S., Silva, R.C., Weber, E.J. et al. (2023). Changes in atmospheric circulation and
evapotranspiration are reducing rainfall in the Brazilian Cerrado. Scientific Reports, 13, 11236. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-38174-x
Marengo, J.A., Jimenez, J.C., Espinoza, JC. et al. (2022) Increased climate pressure on the
agricultural frontier in the Eastern Amazonia–Cerrado transition zone. Scientific Reports,
12, 457. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04241-4
Watts, J. (2025, August 21). Brazil authorities suspend key Amazon rainforest protection
measures. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/21/brazil-authorities-suspend-key-amazon-rainforest-protection-measure