Brazil is to reduce Amazon deforestation by 11 percent in 2006, and has improved on a series of policies aimed at preventing environmental crimes in the region, Minister of Environment Marina Silva said on Tuesday.

Silva made the remarks after a meeting with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore in Sao Paulo.

Silva also rejected the option of selling parts of the Amazon rain-forests, to groups that claim to have better means to preserve it. The Amazon forest is "not for sale," said the reports.

During the meeting with Gore, Silva presented a proposal asking wealthy countries to provide financial incentives to developing countries that have succeeded in reversing deforestation.

The Minister asked for Gore's support on the proposal, in order to better preserve natural forests in developing countries.

She intends to formally present the proposal at the 12th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention, which will be held at the United Nations Climate Change Conference next month in Nairobi, Kenya.

Gore was in Sao Paulo, southeast of Brazil, to promote the

Portuguese version of his book An Inconvenient Truth, which deals with environmental issues such as global warming.

Source: Xinhua