Mongabay: Preliminary data released by the Brazilian government suggests that deforestation in Earth's largest rainforest slowed 18 percent over the past year.
Figures published Wednesday by Brazil's National Space Research Institute (INPE) show that 4,848 square kilometers (1,871 square miles) of forest - an area about the size of the state of Rhode Island or the country of Brunei - were cleared between August 2013 and July 2014. That compares to 5,891 square kilometers in the year earlier period and represents...