Global Deforestation

Anna Gelderd Excerpts

Wednesday 30th April 2025 Westminster Hall

[Anna Gelderd (South East Cornwall) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. As co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on global deforestation, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Brent West (Barry Gardiner) for bringing this important topic to Parliament today, and for being a strong voice championing our environment for many years. Protecting and restoring forests around the world is not just about climate and nature, although those are vital. It is also about safeguarding communities and livelihoods, both globally and here in the UK.

It has been nearly four years since the Environment Act passed into law, but we are still waiting for one of its most crucial elements: the implementation of schedule 17 and the due diligence regulations needed to ensure that UK supply chains are no longer linked to illegal deforestation abroad. British consumers want to know that when they spend their hard-earned pounds they are part of the solution, not the problem. People in South East Cornwall want to be part of building a cleaner, brighter future.

Once enacted, the regulations will make it unlawful for large businesses operating in the UK to use products not produced in accordance with local laws in their country of origin. They will require businesses to establish due diligence systems to assess and mitigate risks, and to report with transparency on their findings. Since the Environment Act was passed, UK imports alone have been linked to over 39,000 hectares of deforestation. To put that into context, there are more MPs in this House than there are Sumatran tigers left on earth—that is a crisis.

Forests are the green lungs of our planet, and alongside our oceans they absorb vast amounts of the carbon dioxide emitted across the world every day, every month and every year. They hold 80% of the world’s land-based biodiversity and support the livelihoods of 1.6 billion people globally. I know that this Government are supportive of nature—and of the efforts to protect and restore our natural spaces—and forest dwellers and economic development. But we need greater clarity on when these regulations will be introduced and how they will meet our global commitments to halt and reverse deforestation.

Some British businesses are already trying to do the right thing, but they need clear and consistent rules. The public is with us too. Polling by the World Wide Fund for Nature shows that 70% of British people support Government action to prevent the sale of products linked to those activities.

Moving forward, we have to be fair and inclusive. The UK forest-risk commodities regulation could inadvertently harm smallholder farmers within global supply chains, many of whom are already struggling. We must ensure that the policy empowers rather than excludes, and that it promotes fair compliance costs, living incomes and meaningful engagement with producers, especially those without formal land titles.

Closer to home, we must ensure that the changes do not increase food costs for UK households at a time when many are already struggling. Public food procurement, which accounts for £2.4 billion every year, must support our environmental goals, not undermine them. Public pounds spent should help deliver on climate and nature protection. That is what both the public and the Government want.

Farmers both here and abroad are part of that solution. In South East Cornwall we are proud of those brilliant farmers working every day to feed our communities and steward our land. Agriculture must be part of that sustainable future, and that means supporting practices that restore nature. We know that UK action alone is not enough to protect forests. We must work in lockstep with key partners such as Brazil, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and others to keep forests standing. The bilateral relationships between the UK and our global partners are key.

Brazil is home to a third of the world’s remaining primary tropical forests and will host COP30 in November. Reports of forests being felled to build roads for that climate summit in Belém are alarming, as is the extent to which human activities are impacting on the summit. Unless we can make progress at COP30 on enforcing supply chain rules and holding financial institutions accountable, our window of opportunity to end forest loss is at risk of closing. Will the Minister confirm that the Government, while supporting the Brazilian presidency, will take on that huge task and ensure that they push for the most ambitious outcomes on forest protection?

I also want to see a mention of joint action on global deforestation included in the recent UK-China climate dialogue. I understand that the Government will launch a new UK-China environment dialogue later this year, which is another good opportunity to have that issue mentioned. Will the Minister confirm that she will discuss that point with the Chinese?

Recently, I was proud to meet members of the public from the Congo who are calling on their Government to halt oil and gas expansion. Given the announcement by the DRC’s oil Minister, will the Minister assure Members that work will be done with partners in key global areas to safeguard the Congo basin’s future? Time is not on our side, so when will the Government introduce the long overdue legislation to implement schedule 17 and ensure that the UK is part of the bright future that has been discussed today?