Record-breaking environmental fund targets Congo rainforest

The biggest ever fund set up to battle deforestation was launched today, targeting the vast Congo basin rainforest in central Africa. Britain and Norway are providing £108m and will also supply satellite imaging technology to monitor the area.

The fund is intended to provide African governments and people living in the rainforest with a viable alternative to logging, mining, and felling trees for firewood and subsistence farming.

The Congo basin rainforest is the world's biggest after the Amazon, at about twice the size of France, but is rapidly dwindling. It is being cut down at the rate of 25,000 football pitches a week. Loss of trees is one of the biggest sources of the carbon dioxide warming the atmosphere, accounting for 18% of annual emissions.

Britain initiated the fund and is providing £58m. "Preserving our forests is vital if we are going to reduce global emissions and tackle climate change."

Jens Stoltenberg, the Norwegian prime minister, whose government is putting £50m in the scheme over three years said the money spent was the most immediate and cost-effective way to combat greenhouse gas emissions. Norway is spending £300m a year on its global forest initiatives.