• Experts warn drilling could undermine regional ecosystems and weaken global climate efforts

• While Brazil has brought down Amazon deforestation rates in recent years, environmentalists say the drilling approval ‘goes in the opposite direction of what we need now’

ISTANBUL

As COP30 wraps up in Brazil, the government’s decision to authorize new oil exploration in the Amazon has triggered strong backlash, with environmental experts warning it undermines the fossil fuel transition being negotiated at the UN climate summit.

Just days before the UN climate summit was to kick off in Belem, a city near the edge of the rainforest, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government allowed state-owned company Petrobras to drill oil wells at the mouth of the Amazon River.

The move contradicts Brazil’s successes in curbing Amazon deforestation, which has been dropping since 2022 after years of spikes between 2018 and 2021.

For 2025, the annual deforestation rate was around 5,796 square kilometers (2,237 square miles), the lowest since 2014, according to an annual report by Brazilian space research agency INPE.

Mariana Andrade, Oceans Campaign coordinator at Greenpeace Brazil, also pointed out that the decision sharply contradicts the climate ambitions Brazil presented at COP30.

“The decision to authorize oil exploration in the Amazon River mouth is deeply concerning, especially as Brazil claims climate leadership while urging the world to commit to a fossil fuel transition roadmap,” she said.

The environmental risks are also severe, experts warned.

“This is a fragile, biodiverse region where exploration heightens the likelihood of spills, pollution and long-term damage to marine ecosystems, traditional fishing communities, and Indigenous peoples," Andrade explained.

Cities in the region are already feeling pressure from associated industrial expansion, affecting food security and local livelihoods, she added.

Minerva Singh, a research fellow at Imperial College London’s Center for Environmental Policy, agreed that the move raises major environmental questions and concerns over Indigenous rights.

“Immediate threats include both spills and seismic noise, affecting both fisheries and marine wildlife. An increase in vessel traffic could lead to territorial conflicts with local communities,” she said, adding that the operations could result in biodiversity loss and increased toxicity.

Brazilian ecologist Julia Tavares called the timing “extremely bad,” coming ahead of a conference focused on cutting emissions and slowing deforestation.

“The approval goes in the opposite direction of what we need now – reducing fossil fuel emissions and reducing deforestation,” she said.

She warned the drilling would have “huge impacts” on marine and river systems, the ocean, and surrounding populations.

Critical to global climate stability

The Amazon, often described as the “lungs of the planet,” spans nine countries across South America, with 60% of the rainforest located in Brazil.

“The Amazon forest houses 10% of the total terrestrial biodiversity,” said Tavares, a National Geographic explorer on the Amazon.

She noted the rainforest stores about 200 petagrams (220 billion tons) of carbon – equal to 15 to 20 years of current global emissions.

“If these trees are burned or die, the carbon goes again to the atmosphere,” she said.

Tavares also highlighted the Amazon’s key role in continental rainfall.

Forests recycle moisture and help fuel the region’s atmospheric “flying rivers” – vast streams of water vapor that move from the Atlantic Ocean across the Amazon Basin toward the Andes, supplying critical rainfall across South America.

As scientists warn, when deforestation disrupts these moisture flows, the impacts can be severe: droughts, water shortages, biodiversity collapse, and the destabilization of the rainforest itself.

“The Amazon forest brings climate stability at a global level because of this effect,” Tavares said.

Deforestation and fires intensify threats

Around 20% of the Amazon has already been lost to deforestation, driven largely by cattle ranching, mining and infrastructure expansion.

WWF estimates cattle pastures alone account for 80% of cleared land, although other drivers include mining and infrastructure projects.

Tavares said that while deforestation rates have decreased, that is not enough.

“Deforestation has to be zero because when you remove the trees of this forest, you are reducing biodiversity, you are emitting carbon and you are reducing rain.”

New political pressure in Brazil to lift restrictions on the sale of soy grown on illegally deforested land – a rollback of the long-standing “soy moratorium” – is raising further alarm as COP30 unfolds.

Wildfires are further compounding the crisis.

Between January and October 2025, fires scorched 7.5 million acres (3 million hectares) of the rainforest – an area 39 times the size of New York City. In 2024, the figure was worse, with 44.2 million acres (17.9 million hectares), according to Rainforest Foundation US.

Experts say Amazon fires are not natural and intentionally lit to clear forest for farming or cattle pasture.

“They are started by humans to clear land. The technique is called slash-and-burn,” said Singh. “Trees are cut or killed, left to dry out and then set ablaze. It is a very ancient practice hardly limited to the Amazon.”

Climate change triggers drought

Climate change is deepening the crisis. The Amazon basin experienced its worst recorded dry seasons in 2023 and 2024.

“These droughts are becoming much more frequent and stronger,” Tavares said. “Each one is reported as the worst ever recorded.”

The Amazon River, the largest in the world by discharge, capable of pouring the equivalent of 86 Olympic swimming pools per second into the ocean, saw some parts get completely dried out from the recent droughts, she said.

Dry forests also burn more easily, making them more vulnerable to wildfires.

Once considered one of the planet’s greatest carbon sinks, some regions of the Amazon may already be releasing more carbon than they absorb, Singh said.