Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment her Department has made of its progress on eliminating deforestation from business supply chains as set out in the Amsterdam Declaration on Deforestation.

Supporting trade in sustainable commodities is a key focus of DFID’s approach to tackling climate change. Partnerships for Forests (£104 million, 2015 - 2023) has been established to accelerate private sector commitments to eliminate deforestation from supply chains.

The programme is working at all levels of supply chains for cocoa, palm oil, rubber and soya, to build stronger demand for sustainable commodities, develop new industry sustainability standards, and test new and sustainable ways of growing commodities without causing deforestation.

This is helping to establish new industry norms and practices, but further work is required to ensure that these are taken up broadly across global agricultural commodity supply chains.