Rondônia achieved the second largest percentage decrease in deforestation among the states of the Legal Amazon between January and August 2026, according to data provided by the Institute of the Environment of the Amazon (Imazon) this week. Despite this progress, the state is listed among those with the highest incidence of deforestation in indigenous lands and conservation units within the Legal Amazon.
The study conducted by Imazon analyzes both deforestation and environmental degradation in the Legal Amazon, covering the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, Tocantins, and Maranhão. It is important to note that deforestation refers to the complete removal of native vegetation, while environmental degradation is the damage caused by logging or fire use.
Overall, the Legal Amazon recorded a total of 2,053 km² of deforested area between January and August of this year. Rondônia achieved a 49% reduction with 51 km² deforested in the same period, trailing only the state of Tocantins. Comparing the periods, 101 km² were deforested from January to August 2025, compared to 51 km² from January to August 2026.
The Imazon survey also details cases of deforestation in Indigenous Lands and Conservation Units. In the Legal Amazon, there was deforestation of 32.25 km² in indigenous lands during the analyzed period, with more than half of these lands showing no deforestation whatsoever. Seven indigenous lands registered areas over 1 km² deforested, two of which are located in Rondônia:
- Indigenous Land Sete de Setembro (RO/MT), which presented the third largest deforested area in the snapshot, totaling 1.84 km².
- Indigenous Land Aripuanã (RO/MT), with 1.02 km² deforested.
Regarding conservation units, deforestation totaled 192.8 km² across the entire Legal Amazon, with 22 CUs having deforested areas above 1 km². Rondônia is included in this group with the Rio Preto-Jacundá Extractive Reserve (Resex), which registered 2.2 km² of deforestation.
Additionally, environmental degradation, defined as damage caused by logging and burning without total deforestation of the area, showed a significant drop. In the Legal Amazon, degraded areas decreased from 2,744 km² in 2025 to 779 km² in 2026, representing a 72% reduction. In Rondônia, this drop was even more pronounced, reaching about 85%. The state reduced its degraded areas from 131 km² between January and August 2025 to only 20 km² in the same period of 2026.