"The rate of deforestation in Brazil has increased by 16 percent over the past year, the country's Environment Ministry announced."

"Brazil has often declared progress in reducing the rate of deforestation in the Amazon, but the government's own figures, released Thursday, show the challenges still facing the country."

"Satellite imagery showed that 2,251 square miles were destroyed in Brazil's Amazon from August 2014 to July 2015, compared with 1,935 square miles destroyed in the same period a year earlier."