Malta is among 100 countries backing a multibillion-euro pledge to end deforestation by 2030.

Government sources said Malta had signed up to the pledge which is backed by almost $20 billion in public and private funding.

Although Malta has minimal woodland cover - just 5% of the island’s landmass - large swathes of arable land are being taken up for property speculation and the construction of national infrastructure.

Just last week Times of Malta reported how a third of total fines issued by the environment watchdog were for the illegal uprooting of trees, with the government and related agencies identified as the worst offenders. 

The pledge was signed at a climate change conference being attended by United Nations leaders from around 200 countries. Countries are being asked for their plans to cut emissions by 2030.

The so-called Conference of the Parties, better known as the COP, is meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, on Tuesday. 

The deforestation commitment is endorsed by more than 100 leaders representing over 85% of the world's forests, including the Amazon rainforest, Canada's northern boreal forest and the Congo basin rainforest.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is hosting the summit, said the agreement on deforestation was pivotal to the overarching ambition of limiting temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

According to Maltese government sources, while the island does not engage in mass deforestation, the pledge will also include commitments linked to conservation and biodiversity which will have a bearing on the country.

Of particular interest to Malta, the sources said, are parts of the pledge linked to marine species and their conservation.

Malta has uprooted several trees to make way for road widening and other infrastructural projects in recent years.

The signatories include Brazil and Russia, which have been singled out for accelerating deforestation in their territories, as well as the United States, China, Australia and France.

Malta also backing methane gas reduction

Meanwhile, it is understood that Malta has also signed up to another pledge on the reduction of methane gas linked to cattle rearing.

More than 80 countries have signed up to the global methane pledge, agreeing to cut emissions by 30% by the end of the decade.

Malta's cattle population is nearly exclusively linked to dairy farming.

This pledge was back by all the EU, so Malta signed up by proxy, government sources said.

The commitment will impact member states such as Ireland, which depends heavily on meat exports.

Malta’s only cattle industry is linked to dairy production, and it is not targeted for exports.

Abela is set to address world leaders at the meeting later on Tuesday. 

He says his administration has allocated half of its batch of EU Recovery and Resilience funds, and “an unprecedented amount of local funds”, to decarbonisation.