Real-time monitoring towers, smoke detection algorithms, and apps that can be used offline – technology is changing the routine of community fire brigades that fight fires in conservation units in the cerrado, Brazil’s savanna biome and the second-largest in land area after the Amazon. Initiatives supported by the Copaíbas Program reduce response times to fire outbreaks and expand the protection of environmental areas.

Created to operate in the Amazon and cerrado biomes, the program aims to reduce deforestation, strengthen conservation areas, and support indigenous peoples and traditional communities. The program is managed by the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (Funbio) and funded by the Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative.

Paula Ceotto, the program manager, explains that, since 2022, Copaíbas has also been investing in the purchase of equipment and personal protective equipment for the conservation units.

“Copaíbas supports planning, training, and implementation of integrated fire management actions, including through a call for proposals launched in 2025, which allocated BRL 5 million to projects in conservation units and their surrounding areas.”

Real-time monitoring

One of the most recent initiatives was introduced in the Serra da Bodoquena National Park, in Mato Grosso do Sul state, where a tower equipped with high-resolution cameras began operating in May.

The equipment uses algorithms capable of identifying early signs of smoke almost in real time. Guilherme Dalponti, an environmental consultant at the Neotrópica Foundation of Brazil – which installed the equipment – explains that it differs from systems that rely solely on satellite imagery, which can result in delays in fire detection.

“The system sends immediate alerts to the monitoring teams,” he sais.

The tower was positioned at a strategic point in the park to expand coverage of the areas most affected by fires. According to Dalponti, monitoring already covers about 90 percent of the conservation unit, which spans approximately 76,000 hectares. In addition to the technological infrastructure, the project also includes the formation of community fire brigades, training in the use of equipment, and environmental education initiatives.

An app for firefighters

Another initiative supported by the program is the Caminho do Fogo (“Firepath”) app, developed to assist firefighters in the field. The tool compiles data on incidents, locations, and territory, enabling communication between teams, monitoring, and the logging of operations, even in areas without internet access.

The app also records the routes taken by teams, which facilitates their return to base in unfamiliar areas. The tool is currently being tested in different regions of Brazil, including in Alter do Chão, in Pará, and the Emas National Park, in Goiás.

The first official version is expected to be launched in July 2026. The system integrates geographic information, operational records, and satellite monitoring into a single platform, allowing data to be shared with official systems as well.

For the first time since 2019, the total area of native vegetation deforested in Brazil fell below 1 million hectares in a single year. According to the Annual Report on Deforestation in the country, released by MapBiomas on Wednesday (May 27), 984,794 hectares were deforested in the country in 2025, 20.6 percent fewer than in 2024.

All of Brazilian biomes recorded reductions in deforested area. The Pantanal saw the largest proportional decline, with deforestation falling 48.4 percent compared with 2024, totaling 12,260 hectares lost during the year. The Cerrado remained the biome with the largest deforested area, at 540,614 hectares in 2025.

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MapBiomas warns that, despite the reduction in deforestation last year, the area deforested in the country averaged 2,698 hectares per day, or about 112 hectares per hour.

“It is as if 17 Ibirapuera parks - the largest urban park in the city of São Paulo - were being deforested every day,” the organization said in a statement.

MapBiomas noted that over the past seven years, Brazil has lost more than 10.9 million hectares of native vegetation, an area larger than the state of Pernambuco.

Most deforested biomes

The Amazon and the Cerrado were the biomes with the highest deforestation rates in 2025 and together accounted for more than 84 percent of all deforested area in Brazil that year.

The Cerrado alone accounted for 54.9 percent of the country’s deforestation, totaling 540,614 hectares, despite a 16.9 percent decrease compared with 2024. The biome lost 1,482 hectares of native vegetation per day.

In the Amazon, 289,478 hectares were deforested in 2025, a 23.5 percent reduction compared with the previous year. Deforestation in the biome averaged 792 hectares per day, equivalent to the loss of about five trees per second, according to an analysis by MapBiomas.

Agricultural expansion

Deforestation associated with agricultural expansion has accounted for more than 97 percent of all native vegetation loss in the country over the past seven years, MapBiomas pointed out.

In 2025, this pressure factor accounted for 99 percent of total native vegetation loss.

Furthermore, in the past year, 99 percent of the deforested area associated with gold mining was concentrated in the Amazon, with the highest incidence in the state of Pará. Deforestation related to renewable energy projects, meanwhile, was concentrated in the Caatinga, which accounted for 97 percent of the deforested area associated with this factor.

Deforestation associated with urban expansion increased by 7 percent compared with 2024 and was concentrated mainly in the Cerrado and the Amazon, which together accounted for more than 60 percent of native vegetation loss due to urbanization.

Protected areas

Conservation units (UCs) and indigenous lands are the best-preserved areas, according to an analysis by MapBiomas. Even so, within UCs, 46,257 hectares were deforested in 2025, a 21.4 percent decrease compared with the previous year.

On indigenous lands, deforestation totaled 12,593 hectares in 2025, a 22 percent decrease compared with 2024. In 2025, 30 percent of these lands recorded at least one deforestation event. From 2019 to 2025, 1.7 percent (184,622 hectares) of all deforested area in Brazil occurred on these territories.