asked Her Majesty's Government:

What steps they have recently taken to persuade other Governments to conserve rainforest habitats for the benefit of indigenous plants, animals and people; and in what ways they are monitoring progress on this matter. [HL3266]

The UK Government have invested considerable amounts in terms of both funding and other resources, such as expertise, and representation through the UN and G8 processes, and it would not be possible to make reference to all this activity here. However, some examples of UK Government assistance towards the conservation of rainforests follow.

UK is working with other countries under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to conserve forests through implementation of the forest biodiversity programme of work;

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD)—UK supporting a demonstration project and announced £50 million for reducing deforestation and poverty in the Congo Basin and a contribution of £15 million to the World Bank Forest Carbon Partnership Facility;

support of the Heart of Borneo initiative, which aims to protect important biodiversity and wildlife habitats, prevent illegal forestry/agribusiness and promote indigenous sustainable livelihoods and covers an area 90 per cent of the size of the UK, Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia; and

under the Darwin Initiative—a grants programme that aims to assist countries rich in biodiversity but poor in financial resources to implement their biodiversity-related commitments—the Government have committed more than £60 million to 464 projects in more than 100 countries, many of them towards forestry projects in the developing world.