Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to respond to the August 2022 fires in the Amazon rainforest.

Deforestation is affecting livelihoods, biodiversity and carbon sequestration and has increased at a worrying rate since 2018, with a 22% increase in deforested area recorded between 2020 and 2021. Fires have contributed to this trend. At COP26 the UK committed £300 million to help protect the rainforest throughout the Amazonian biome through the International Climate Finance (ICF) Programme.

Also at COP26, the UK welcomed Brazil's commitments to eliminate illegal deforestation by 2028 and restore 18 million hectares of forest by 2030. Through ICF projects, the UK works side by side with Brazil to tackle deforestation in all nine Amazon states and carefully monitors deforestation across the Amazon region to inform our efforts.