Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the Brazilian government on deforestation in the Amazon.

The UK regularly engages with the Brazilian Government on deforestation in the Amazon. In the run up to, and during COP26, COP President Alok Sharma met with Brazil's Environment Minister Joaquim Leite regularly, and The Minister for the Pacific and the Environment met with many Brazilian State Governors who are essential partners in meeting deforestation targets and climate change commitments. Our Ambassador to Brazil, Peter Wilson, also met with the Minister for the Environment, Joaquim Leite, on two occasions in December as well as with Senate Speaker Pacheco. The UK will continue to work with the Federal Government, state level leadership, the private sector and civil society to help tackle deforestation and protect the rainforest.

While we are concerned by the rising rates of deforestation in the Amazon, we were pleased to welcome Brazil's positive commitments at COP26. Brazil signed the Forest and Land Use pledge and committed to eliminating illegal deforestation by 2028, and to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. The UK will support this and other climate commitments by doubling our International Climate Finance to £11.6 billion over the next five years - we will be investing at least £3 billion of this in solutions that protect and restore nature. The introduction of world-leading due diligence legislation through the Environment Bill will also tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains.