By MICHAEL ASTOR, Associated Press Writer

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Ranchers, soybean farmers and loggers destroyed a chunk of the Amazon rainforest about the size of Massachusetts last year, the government said Wednesday.


But the government claimed that despite the near-record desforestation, they have kept the destruction from accelerating even faster.


Satellite photos and data showed that 9,169 square miles of rainforest was cut down in the 12 months ending in August, 2003.


That is slightly more than in the same period last year, according to newly revised figures. But the government saw the results as a victory.


"We don't want to be overconfident, but we managed to break the rhythm of growth (in destruction) and this is highly significant," said Environment Minister Marina da Silva, who announced the figures in Brasilia, the nation's capital.


Last year, the government announced that 10,190 square miles of rainforest had vanished in the 2001-2002 period, but on Wednesday they said they had overestimated and the correct figure was 8,980 square miles.


Environmentalists were shocked by the deforestation in 2002, an increase of almost 40 percent over the previous year. They were especially disturbed because past Amazon destruction had always followed an economic upturn, but Brazil's economy shrank 0.2 percent in 2002.

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