Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has launched an international fund to protect the Amazon rainforest and help combat climate change.

The fund will promote alternatives to forest-clearing for people living in the Amazon, and support conservation and sustainable development

Officials will seek donations abroad and aim to raise $21bn (£11bn) by 2021.

But a government minister said Brazil would not accept foreign interference in its Amazon policy.

The environmental group Greenpeace said it was the first time Brazil had accepted a link between global warming and preserving the rainforest.