Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Malaysian counterpart on (a) protecting tropical forests and (b)(i) safeguarding and (ii) recognising the rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.

The Foreign Secretary met Malaysian PM Anwar on 11 July and discussed Malaysia's climate commitments.

Tackling deforestation and safeguarding the role of local smallholder communities was the focal point of the Minister for Climate's visit in April 2025 when she and Malaysian Minister for Plantations launched the Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) Dialogue Forum promoting deforestation-free crop production.

In March 2025, I launched the UK International Climate Fund (ICF) programme 'Seed to Tree'. I engaged with the indigenous community on establishing seed banks, plant nurseries and translocating saplings for wider forest restoration efforts in Malaysia to combat climate change.

The UK is working with Malaysia and the Netherlands under a UK ICF programme where smallholders (comprising indigenous and local community groups) from across Malaysia are trained to be market-ready producers of sustainable palm oil and deforestation free crops.