Deforestation effect of UK consumption unsustainable, say MPs

Committee finds British consumers contributing particularly highly to destruction of world's forests

UK consumption is having an unsustainable" impact on the world, and contributing particularly highly to deforestation, a report by MPs has found.

Products such as soya, cocoa, palm oil, beef and leather may be products of deforestation, and the environmental audit committee has found that the UK's deforestation footprint per tonne of product consumed is higher than that of other countries including China, calling it unsustainable". A deforestation footprint is similar to a carbon footprint. It signifies how much deforestation occurs per tonne of product consumed. Scientists have worked out the deforestation footprints of various countries by analysing trade patterns for goods which are linked to high levels of forest destruction.