The Brazilian Amazon saw a record low annual deforestation rate since the country started monitoring the region with satellite in 1988, the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) said Thursday.

Between August 2008 and July 2009, the Amazon region lost 7,464 square km of forest, with a fall of 42 percent compared with the previous 12-month period, an INPE report said.

The results coincide with the institute's forecast in December 2009, estimating that devastation between August 2008 and July 2009 had reached a little over 7,000 square kilometers.

The INPE report was based on 400 images taken by three satellites under the PRODES (Project for Monitoring Deforestation in the Amazon) detection system.

According to the institute, devastation began to slow down five years ago, when the government launched plans for prevention and control measures.

"A substantial and consistent decline in deforestation has been observed since 2004," said INPE.

The biggest drop in deforestation was registered in the center-west state of Mato Grosso, with a reduction of 68 percent.

At the Copenhagen climate change conference last December, Brazil presented a target of reducing deforestation rate by 80 percent by 2020.

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