Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the Government plans to maintain funding to prevent deforestation in developing countries; and whether the UK provides any funding to help prevent large-scale forest fires in developing countries.

Preventing deforestation is a key priority for the UK. More than one billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods, and forests are vital resources which support economic growth in developing countries. At the Paris climate change conference in 2015, the UK Germany and Norway collectively committed to providing up to US$1 billion per year by 2020, or over $5 billion in the period 2015-20, to prevent deforestation and ensure that forests are managed sustainably.