Britain on Monday promised $234 million to step up the fight against deforestation, tackling a key contributor to climate change on the eve of a UN summit.
Britain will provide another 84 million pounds ($137 million) over three years to expand a program that improves the rule of law including property rights in the rainforests, Britain's international development secretary Justine Greening said.
Greening credited the program's progress in nations including Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and especially Liberia, where she said the work has helped stop illegal logging.
With the new funding, the program will tackle not just logging but also look at common products that come from illegally cleared land such as palm oil, beef and soy, she said.
Greening said Britain would also set up a new program with 60 million pounds ($97 million) in funding to work with companies to remove deforestation from their supply chains and help small-scale farmers in their transition.
She encouraged other countries to follow Britain's goal of ending all use of unsustainable palm oil -- which is used in food and cosmetics -- by the end of 2015.
Deforestation is responsible for the equivalent of around 10 percent of the emissions blamed for climate change as the lush, tropical woods serve as a counter-balance to greenhouse gases.
World leaders are meeting today at the United Nations in a bid to set the stage for a new international agreement on climate change at a conference next year in Paris.
PHOTO: Deforestation in the concession of Karya Makmur Abadi that is being developed for a palm oil plantation, in East Kotawaringin, Indonesia, on February 24, 2014
CREDIT: AFP Photo/Bay Ismoyo