Zac Goldsmith hails ‘unprecedented’ deal at Cop26 to save world’s forests

More than 100 leaders to commit to halting and reversing deforestation and land degradation by 2030

Saving the world's forests will be one of the cornerstone achievements of the Cop26 climate summit, the UK environment minister Zac Goldsmith has said, with some of the biggest forested nations and consumers of forestry products signing up to an unprecedented" conservation deal.

On Tuesday, more than 100 world leaders will commit to halting and reversing deforestation and land degradation by 2030, backed by nearly 14bn in public and private funding. Major producers and consumers of deforestation-linked commodities including Indonesia, China, Brazil and the US have put their name to the deal, which aims to curtail the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.