Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support will be given to developing countries reliant on deforestation to make products for export to help meet net-zero targets.

The Government is determined to do all it can to halt and reverse forest loss, and this was a COP26 priority. The Glasgow Leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use, setting out a commitment to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030, has now been endorsed by 142 countries. Substantial finance has been committed to help developing countries work towards the aims of the declaration, including a collective pledge by 12 donor countries to provide US$12 billion from 2021-25.

The response to deforestation needs to balance economic interests and environmental protection. This is the approach taken in the Forest and Agriculture Commodity Trade (FACT) Dialogue, which was also launched at COP26. The dialogue establishes a new partnership between the largest producers and consumers of agricultural commodities, such as palm oil, soya and cocoa, and aims to build collaboration to protect forests while promoting sustainable trade. At the launch of the FACT Dialogue at COP26, the UK committed up to £500m for follow-up action, implemented through FCDO's Investments in Forests and Sustainable Land Use programme. The funding will protect an estimated 5m hectares of forest and create thousands of green jobs, including in sustainable agriculture and forestry.