Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions her Department has had with representatives of the business sector on the elimination of deforestation from business supply chains as set out in the Amsterdam Declaration on Deforestation.

The UK supports a number of initiatives which facilitate engagement, dialogue and collaboration with companies to eliminate deforestation from supply chains, in line with the aims of the Amsterdam Declarations.

This includes business roundtables to help UK companies realise sustainable sourcing commitments for palm oil and soya; the Tropical Forest Alliance, a public-private initiative with over 160 members, hosted by the World Economic Forum, which is working to help companies realise commitments to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains for palm oil, soya, beef and paper & board; and support to the Cocoa and Forests Initiative, which works with the global cocoa and chocolate industries to eliminate deforestation from the cocoa supply chain.

This collaboration is helping to accelerate the implementation of new industry norms and practices for sustainability, but further work is required to ensure that these are taken up broadly across global agricultural commodity supply chains.