Brazil lost 400 square kilometres of Amazon jungle in September, but deforestation slowed by a third compared with the same month last year, according to official data released on Wednesday. Environment Minister Carlos Minc said the speed at which the vast Amazon rainforest was being stripped was down 32 per cent, based on satellite imagery from the government's National Space Research Institute.

Brazil's government has made the fight against Amazon deforestation a priority. Much of the fragile woodland is burnt down by ranchers and farmers, releasing into the atmosphere massive amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Brazil is expected to present the results of its efforts at a major UN climate change meeting in Denmark next month, which will try to come up with a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol.