GOVERNMENTS, multinational companies and campaigners are pledging to halt the loss of the world's natural forests by 2030.

A declaration announced as part of a UN summit on climate change being held in New York also pledges to halve the rate of deforestation by the end of this decade and to restore hundreds of millions of acres of degraded land.

Backers of the New York Declaration on Forests claim their efforts could save between 4.5 billion and 8.8 billion tonnes of carbon emissions per year by 2030 - the equivalent of taking all the world's cars off the road.

The UK, Germany and Norway have pledged to enter into up to 20 programmes over the next couple of years to pay countries for reducing their deforestation, which could be worth more than £700 million.

Companies such as Kellogg's, Marks & Spencer, Barclays and Nestle and charities including the RSPB, WWF and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have signed the declaration.

The declaration's supporters say ending the loss of the world's natural forests will play an important part in limiting global temperature rises to 2C, beyond which the worst impacts of climate change are expected to be felt.

The declaration is a key announcement at the summit, which has been attended by more than 120 leaders including David Cameron, which aims to drive action ahead of talks in Paris next year when it is hoped a new global climate treaty will be agreed.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who convened the summit, said: "The New York Declaration aims to reduce more climate pollution each year than the United States emits annually, and it doesn't stop there.

"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."

Signatories to the declaration are committing to a number of steps to halt forest loss, including backing a private sector goal of eliminating deforestation from producing agricultural products such as palm oil, soy and paper and beef by no later than 2020.

They are also seeking to support alternatives to deforestation, caused by the demand for wood fuel used in subsistence farming.

The countries, businesses, charities and indigenous groups are also committing to restoring 150m hectares of degraded landscape and forest area, and speeding up restoration so that 200m hectares are restored by 2030.

Restoration of 350m hectares by the end of the next decade would have benefits for the climate by storing carbon and taking pressure off primary forests.