Amazon, France Summit on Climate Change held in Brazil

The Amazon basin and France Summit on climate change has been held in the Brazilian city of Manaus.

Regional leaders met to forge a joint agreement to protect the world's largest rain forest and tackle deforestation. French President Nicolas Sarkozy joined the summit on behalf of French Guiana. The leaders attempted to agree a common proposal for next month's UN climate change conference in Copenhagen.

Brazil has already pledged to voluntarily reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 36 percent by 2020, with 80 percent of the cuts by curbing Amazon deforestation. Participants also urged developed countries to provide more funds and technology to poorer nations for their fight against global warming.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, center, France's  President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, and Guyana's president Bharrat  Jagdeo pose for a picture during the Amazon summit in Manaus, Brazil,  Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009. Sarkozy is representing French Guiana. (AP Photo/ Andre Penner)