The UK has pledged to provide more than £200m to work against the rapid loss of forests in poor countries.
The UK was supported by more than 30 other countries who signed the New York Declaration on Forests, a major UN initiative to stem the tide of climate change by cutting the rate of deforestation around the world in half by 2020.
Deforestation produces nearly a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions because when they are burned down during forest clearing, trees release the carbon they had stored.
Germany, Norway and the UK committed to funding up to 20 new programmes to pay countries to reduce deforestation.
In addition to the £200m, the UK’s Department for International Developed pledged £144m for programmes designed to reduce illegal logging and deforestation.
A further £45m is being sent to a World Bank deforestation scheme by the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change. The money will be applied in Mexico, Ghana, Nepal, Congo, and Vietnam among others.
All the money is to come from the UK’s International Climate Fund which has nearly £4bn to be used over five years on climate change programmes abroad.
The UN’s Mr Ban said: "Forests are not only a critical part of the climate solution – the actions agreed today will reduce poverty, enhance food security, improve the rule of law, secure the rights of indigenous peoples and benefit communities around the world.”
