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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help prevent deforestation in (a) Brazil, (b) the Democratic Republic of Congo and (c) Indonesia.

Defra works alongside the Department for International Development and Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to prevent deforestation overseas. Together, our three departments have committed to spending £5.8 billion in international climate finance (ICF) between 2016 and 2021, which includes programmes that aim to reduce emissions from deforestation and land use change. Since the ICF began in 2011, the UK has spent just over £800 million on forest and land use programmes, which includes projects that aim to reduce deforestation in Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia.

For example, the UK has made a £118 million commitment to support forests and sustainable land use in Brazil, focused on State governments and creating new businesses. This includes Defra’s £64.9 million investment that aims to protect over 200,000 hectares of forest in the Amazon, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado regions and to support over 5,000 farmers to transition into low carbon sustainable agriculture.

Through its Blue Forests programme, Defra is investing £10.1 million, to reduce deforestation of mangroves habitats in Madagascar and Indonesia. The programme aims to protect around 20,000 hectares of mangrove forests; deliver around 13.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide savings and benefit over 100,000 people.

The UK has also invested £115 million in the BioCarbon Fund – Initiative for Sustainable Forested Landscapes which seeks to improve landscape management and reduce emissions from the forest and land use sector in countries including Indonesia, while promoting alternative livelihoods that help take the pressure off the country’s primary forests and peatlands.

The UK has also invested in the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility Carbon Fund, which includes both Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The UK’s share of payments through the Fund will be up to about £20 million, phased over several years, if Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo successfully preserve their forests and deliver verified emissions reductions.