"SAO PAULO - Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon dropped by 22.3% in the 12 months through July, government data showed on Thursday, as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made good on a pledge to rein in the destruction that happened under his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.

Some 9,001 square kilometers (3,475.31 square miles) of Amazon jungle were destroyed in the 12 months through July, according to data from Brazilian space research agency Inpe, down from the 11,568 square kilometers cleared a year earlier.

It was the smallest area cleared since 2018, the year before Bolsonaro took office. The Amazon jungle is the world's largest rainforest and its protection is seen as vital to curbing climate change."

Peter Frontini and Jake Spring report for CNN November 9, 2023. [2]