Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has fallen to its second-lowest level in 25 years, according to the country’s environment minister Izabella Teixeira. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Teixera said 4,848 square km of forest were cut down between Aug. 2013 and Jul. 2014, compared to 5,891 square km during the same period a year earlier, the Associated Press reports. The drop is a surprise, since environmental groups have been warning of an increase following the adoption of a controversial 2012 bill that eases clearing restrictions for small landowners. “The major message is OK, is good: Brazil has been advancing,” says Marco Lentini, coordinator of the Amazon program for the World Wide Fund for Nature’s Brazil branch, while cautioning: “It doesn’t mean that the deforestation issue is over.” The Amazon rainforest, considered an essential natural defense against global warming, is gradually being razed to make way for cattle grazing, soy plantations and logging.