Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to (a) protect old-growth rainforests and (b) support the communities that live in them.

Stopping deforestation is essential to protect biodiversity, tackle climate change and promote sustainable economic development. DFID works to address the underlying causes of deforestation, such as stopping illegal logging and related corruption, ending unsustainable practices in the production of palm oil, cocoa and other agricultural commodities, and helping local communities to secure recognised legal rights to the forests which they depend on for their livelihoods.

For example, support to the Mapping for Rights initiative has helped over 1,000 communities in the Congo Basin map their forest lands covering more than seven million hectares. The communities use these maps as the basis for claims to secure their rights and to help ensure that the forests they depend on are not allocated to logging concessions.

Work to tackle deforestation is funded through the Forest Governance, Markets and Climate programme (£250m, 2011-21), which is tackling illegal logging and promoting trade in legal timber and Investments in Forests and Sustainable Land Use (£107m, 2015-23), through which DFID funds Partnerships for Forests (P4F). P4F works with companies to develop new and sustainable approaches to growing agricultural commodities, which protect forests and provide sustainable livelihoods. DFID also funds work to protect forests through the Indonesia country programme.