It is a good journalistic practice to always look at the facts and figures, especially in the business section of a newspaper. With an important world problem that has been close to the author of this comment’s heart for years – the destruction of the Amazon rainforest – one could do this this week and draw seemingly happy conclusions:

Researchers from the University of Maryland and the environmental organization World Resources Institute report after studying satellite images that deforestation in the largest contiguous rainforest area in the world will have decreased by 24 percent by 2023 compared to the previous year. In Brazil, where most of this rainforest is located, the figure was as high as 36 percent. Brazil’s national satellite authority also published data at the beginning of the year that points in the same direction, even achieving a 50 percent reduction.