Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to support countries around the world to tackle deforestation and illegal logging.

DFID leads work internationally and across Government to drive efforts to tackle deforestation and combat illegal logging. It does so directly through bilateral programmes aimed at supporting countries and businesses to lock out illegal activities, promote sector reforms, and foster public-private partnerships which catalyse investment into sustainable land use, including environmental and forest protection. DFID also works through multilateral instruments that have broader geographic coverage, particularly through the World Bank’s Forest Investment Programme and the Global Environment Fund.

DFID, together with the international teams in BEIS and Defra, are actively engaged in international policy processes to galvanise the action of other governments and business to stop illegal logging, deforestation and promote sustainable land use. Most recently, the UK led efforts at the UN Climate Action Summit, to agree actions to build natural resilience to climate change.