Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) financial and (b) other support the UK has provided to rainforest preservation efforts in each year since 2010.

The UK has pledged at least £5.8 billion of International Climate Finance (ICF) from 2016 until 2021 to support ambitious action by developing countries to mitigate and adapt to the worst impacts of climate change. This includes reducing emissions from deforestation and tackling poverty through the creation of sustainable livelihoods for forest dependent communities.

Since the start of the ICF in 2011, the UK has spent just over £800 million on forest and land use programmes, which includes projects that aim to preserve tropical rainforests and combat deforestation. The breakdown of funding each year is: £50 million in FY11-12, £64 million in FY12-13, £120 million in FY13-14, £248 million in FY14-15, £193 million in FY15-16, and £150 million in FY16-17.

The UK also undertakes long term research collaboration with tropical forest countries through the Newton Fund. For example, scientists in the UK and Latin America are working together on a new £1.5 million (2017-20) project to develop new biotechnologies through the region’s flora and fauna.