A sharp decline in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in June — 95 percent in comparison with the same month in 2004 (plummeting from 10,017 to 531 square km) — is raising hopes for success in fighting the phenomenon. It is the result primarily of strong government measures, which since February have protected vast areas of the northern state of Pará, and in June dismantled a corruption network that had been driving illegal logging in the western state of Mato Grosso, says Carlos Souza, secretary of the Institute of Man and Environment in the Amazon.

He explained that the Institute used data from the Real Time Deforestation Monitoring System, which utilizes satellite images for “surgical inspection” of the forests, so the authorities can crack down on deforestation immediately.