Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a legal target to end deforestation by (a) 2025 and (b) 2020 within supply chains for commodities included in the 2015 Amsterdam declaration on deforestation; and if he will make a statement.

Defra has examined the possibility of setting a target aimed at ending deforestation in the UK’s commodity supply chains. Setting a target in law, whether it is aimed at ending imported deforestation in 2020 or in 2025, requires reliable metrics and an established baseline, as well as a robust understanding of any potential perverse incentives that it could create to ensure that impacts are not simply displaced, for example on to other ecosystems. We are working to develop an evidence base to inform the development of a potential future global footprint target.