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.

Representatives of ancestral territories launched the Alliance of Traditional Peoples and Communities: Guardians of the Atlantic Forest. The launch took place at the University of São Paulo Law School on National Atlantic Forest Day. The Atlantic forest is one of Brazil’s most threatened biomes.

Formed by representatives from indigenous and traditional peoples from across the country, the alliance was organized to represent and defend the Atlantic forest, as well as to fight for the territorial rights of these peoples and communities.

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“We are traditional peoples and communities, guardians of ancestral knowledge, which enables us to care for mother nature, her forests, rivers, lakes, and seas,” the alliance’s founding manifesto reads.

Ivanildes Kerexu, coordinator of the Guarani Yvyrupa Commission and a resident of the Rio Bonito Village in Ubatuba, São Paulo, said that the alliance is an initiative to unite peoples and to further protect this territory.

“We need to form this Atlantic forest alliance so that we can have the right to public policies and, of course, also for environmental preservation,” she said.

“What has preserved the Atlantic forest to this day has always been the traditional communities that live there and are resisting,” she added.

Federal Representative Sonia Guajajara, former Minister of Indigenous Peoples, who attended the launch ceremony, emphasized the role of the movement as a space for dialogue, reporting abuses, and building community.

“For us, it’s obvious – our daily struggle is not always understood by legal institutions. That is why these voices are needed every day, so that this message reaches everywhere, and is understood,” she declared.

In addition to the consequences of exploitation, mining, and deforestation, Guajajara argued, Brazil now faces an international threat linked to the exploitation of rare earths and critical minerals.

“If rare earths are exploited in the same way – without regard for rights, without safeguards, and without free, prior, and informed consultation – the consequences will be no different from what oil exploitation has meant for our peoples,” she went on to say.

For this reason, she noted, the creation of this coalition comes at a very opportune moment. “We are up against powerful structures – both economic and political – that have no desire whatsoever to understand what we do as a contribution to life on the planet. So, this forum of traditional communities in defense of the Atlantic forest is gaining strength at a key moment, a moment when more than half of the Atlantic forest has already been lost.”

Atlantic forest

Considered the common cradle of Brazilian history and biodiversity, the Atlantic forest is threatened by large-scale development projects and real estate speculation. Other factors that have also contributed to its destruction, according to members of the alliance, include exploitative tourism – particularly the construction of new resorts – the use of pesticides and the extraction of oil and fossil fuels.

Data on the biome reveal that only about 12.4 percent of its original vegetation remains today – vegetation that once covered 15 percent of Brazilian territory. Despite this, the forest still shelters over 20 thousand plant species and over 2 thousand vertebrate species, many of which exist nowhere else in the world.

The Atlantic forest is also vital to the economy and human life, as it provides water for more than 145 million Brazilians – that is, about 70 percent of Brazilians.

Data from a survey on energy transition revealed that 85 percent of Brazilians can notice the effects of climate change in their daily lives, and nearly half (46%) describe them as severe. The study was conducted by Aurora Lab and More in Common and will be released Wednesday (May 27).

The main concerns expressed by the 2,630 participants regarding the effects of climate change were:

• having to cope with a higher cost of living – 53%;
• physical health problems – 45%;
• obstacles to getting to work – 40%;
• mental health issues – 32%;
• loss of income – 17%;
• job loss – 10%.

In the view 67 percent of respondents, the government should be the primary entity responsible for ensuring the protection of workers in this context. Employers were mentioned by seven percent, and self-organized groups, such as those focused on socio-environmental rights, by less than six percent.

The result came as a surprise to the researchers. “This is really concerning data because it removes – or at least does not place – the responsibility on employers. We are going to see more and more extreme weather events, and employers have a key role to play in ensuring workers’ protection during the transition process as well,” Aurora Lab Executive Director Gabriela Vuolo argued.

The survey also shows a high level of awareness (93%) that society’s production and consumption models need to be transformed in order to address the climate crisis.

Sixty-seven percent believe that these changes will benefit the working class by creating new jobs. Only 10 percent disagree with this and believe they will have the opposite effect, leading to job losses.

Social inequalities

The interviews also explored people’s views on the link between the energy transition and the country’s social structure. The majority (45%) believe that the shift to new energy sources will reduce social inequalities, compared to 17 percent who believe they will remain the same and 23 percent who think they will increase.

According to Gabriela Vuolo, some respondents believe that even wages could increase.

Fake news

According to the study, even in an era of widespread fake news, Brazilians still trust what science says. When it comes to climate, universities and scientists are the most credible source in the view of 69 percent of respondents, while social media is the primary source of information for 65 percent.

The interviews were conducted with people aged 16 and older in the capitals of nine Brazilian states from May to September 2025.

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.

The presidents of the 30th and 31st UN Climate Change Conferences (COP) unveiled a preliminary proposal for the Global Implementation Accelerator in Denmark last week.

The initiative, launched in Belém city in November 2025 during COP30 under Brazil’s presidency, prioritizes actions with the greatest potential, capable of scaling up globally and delivering solutions to combat climate change more quickly.

In practice, the idea is to shift the debate from legal texts to the implementation of swift and tangible solutions at the upcoming climate conference, to be jointly hosted by Turkey and Australia in the Turkish city of Antalya this November.

The presentation of this approach, characterized by greater economic pragmatism, took place during the Ministerial Meeting on Climate and Development, traditionally held in the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Representatives from about 40 countries were present, including ministers and negotiators.

The high-level meeting is the last one before the mid-year sessions of the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, which serve as preparatory meetings for COP.

Ana Toni, CEO of COP30 and a member of the Brazilian delegation, explained that the Accelerator is a cooperative and voluntary mechanism with the greatest potential to trigger and produce ripple effects.

“The goal is to accelerate solutions – such as technologies, procedures, and methodologies – included in the Solution Acceleration Plans for the various initiatives and objectives of the Action Agenda,” Ana Toni stated.

Roadmaps

The delegation heads also discussed issues such as the roadmaps on fossil fuels and deforestation through 2030, as agreed upon at COP28 in Dubai in 2023.

In total, the COP30 presidency received 444 contributions to the international roadmaps on fossil fuels and deforestation, following a consultation held from February to April.

The president of COP30, Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago, asserted that the scientific solutions and new technologies needed to limit global warming to the Paris Agreement’s safest target (1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels) are well known, but the challenge of the climate crisis involves financing and technology transfer that will enable countries to implement these changes in time.

“The COP30 Presidency is working to provide the best available information to ensure that debates on deforestation and fossil fuels are as well-informed as possible. That way, the paths we chart will be viable and help accelerate the fight against climate change,” said Diplomat André Corrêa do Lago.

During the two-day sessions, topics such as the implementation of nationally determined contributions (NDCs), the future of the climate regime, and adaptation to the impacts of climate change were also addressed.

Climate regime

Regarding the “climate regime” – the set of rules, treaties, and international conferences that manage the global climate crisis – Ambassador Liliam Chagas, director of Climate at the Secretariat of Climate, Energy, and Environment of Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, believes that countries are maturing toward more goal-oriented talks at the COPs.

This self-criticism has led these nations to become more organized and to concentrate on making effective progress on issues related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“The regime is undergoing a transition phase – from negotiation and commitments to a phase of implementing what has already been agreed upon,” the Brazilian ambassador noted.

The director stressed that, ten years after the Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015 during COP21, countries continue to uphold and strengthen their commitments to develop policies to combat climate change and national adaptation plans, and to work toward securing global financial resources to fund the transition to a low-carbon economy.