Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness about steps to protect and preserve rainforests worldwide.

Dan Rogerson

Defra is the UK competent authority for the European Timber Regulation (EUTR) and the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Regulation, which are designed to counter illegal logging and help protect rainforests. Information on both is published on Defra’s Central Point of Expertise for Timber Procurement (CPET). Information on EUTR is also published on GOV.UK. The National Measurement Office, which enforces EUTR and FLEGT on Defra’s behalf, speaks at numerous events at which it raises awareness of the legislation.

Defra is responsible for £140 million of the International Climate Fund (ICF) dedicated to international forestry projects. Our ICF spending so far has targeted rainforest deforestation in Brazil and contributed towards the World Bank’s Biocarbon Fund. Case studies of ICF projects are described on GOV.UK, and details of ICF spending are made available through the International Aid Transparency Initiative.