Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government has taken since signing the Amsterdam Declaration in 2015 to eliminate deforestation from agricultural commodity chains.

The Government’s 25-Year Environment Action Plan outlines our ambition to reduce deforestation caused by the UK’s imports of agricultural commodities and has established an industry-led Task Force to advise Government on how to achieve that goal.

Internationally, the UK has been an active member the Amsterdam Declarations Partnership, providing funding to support analysis and coordination. Through our bilateral programme, we have developed the Investments in Forests and Sustainable Land Use programme, which runs from 2015-2023, with current committed funding of £113 million from DFID and BEIS. It was designed to accelerate progress on delivery of the Amsterdam Declaration commitments, and operates in Southeast Asia, East Africa, West and Central Africa (with DFID support), and in Latin America (with BEIS assistance). The programme is pioneering new approaches which both promote economic growth and livelihoods and protect forests. It currently has a portfolio of public-private partnerships that aim to bring up to 1.4 million hectares of land under sustainable management and mobilise up to £350m of private investment.