One hundred and fourteen world leaders, including Ireland, pledged this week to end deforestation by 2030.

At COP26, they committed to “halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030”.

The pledge is backed by $12bn in public funding and $7.2bn in private funding.

Nations such as Brazil, China, Australia, Russia and the US, along with the EU, are among the countries who signed up to the pledge.

All 114 nations support 85% of the world’s forests, an area of over 13m square miles, absorbing around one-third of global CO2 released from burning fossil fuels each year.

COP26 president Alok Sharma said that forests are one of the world’s best defences against catastrophic climate change, and essential to keeping a rise in global temperature at 1.5°C.

“This historic commitment will help end the devastating effects of deforestation and support the developing countries and indigenous communities who are the guardians of so much of the world’s forests.”