Lula says 'world must help' Brazil save the Amazon

Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that the "world must help" Brazil protect the Amazon, ahead of a summit next week on the world's biggest rainforest, a key buffer against climate change. Lula and leaders of other countries with territory in the sprawling Amazon are set to meet next week in the Brazilian city of Belem on developing policies to protect the rainforest, which is being badly damaged by deforestation.

It will be the first meeting of the eight-member Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization since 2009. Deforestation in Brazil's 60-percent share of the Amazon fell by 33.6 percent year-on-year from January to June, the first six months of Lula's term.

Lula said he planned to work with other Amazon basin leaders to "share research on the region's biodiversity" and seek ways to enable people there to "work without destroying" the fragile ecosystem.