Norway has become the first country in the world to commit to zero deforestation.

The Norwegian parliament pledged the government’s public procurement policy will become deforestation-free after a committee of MPs recommended imposing regulations to ensure the state did "not contribute to deforestation of the rainforest".

Norway funds forest conservation projects worldwide and also supports human rights programmes for forest communities.

Nils Hermann Ranum, the head of Policy and Campaign at Rainforest Foundation Norway, said in a statement: “This is an important victory in the fight to protect the rainforest. Over the last few years, a number of companies have committed to cease the procurement of goods that can be linked to destruction of the rainforest.

“Until now, this has not been matched by similar commitments from governments. Thus, it is highly positive that the Norwegian state is now following suit and making the same demands when it comes to public procurements”.

Pollution threatens world’s largest mangrove rainforest

The Rainforest Foundation Norway has campaigned for years to secure a zero deforestation commitment from the Norwegian government.

The MPs' committee also called for the government to protect biodiversity by developing a separate policy and through investments made by Norges Bank Investment Management.

In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Borneo Destruction of the rainforest, deforestation in Borneo In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Brazil Aerial view af an area devastated by clandestine gold mining in the Jamanxim National Forest, state of Para. With 1,3 million hectares, the Jamanxim National Forest is a microsm that replicates what happens in the Amazon, where thousands of hectares of land are prey of illegal woodcutters, stock breeders and gold miners In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Amazon rainforest Intensive logging makes rainforest fires more likely as the Earth warms Rex In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Peru Miners known as "Maraqueros" ready a rustic type of hydraulic jet known locally as a "Chupadera," after hauling the device about 16-meters deep into a crater at a gold mine process in La Pampa in Peru's Madre de Dios region. A new threat now looms for the estimated 20,000 wildcat miners who toil in huge scar of denuded rainforest known as La Pampa In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Peru A rope hangs around the trunk of a tree at a illegal gold mining process in La Pampa in Peru's Madre de Dios region. An estimated 20,000 miners toil in this malarial expanse of denuded rainforest known as La Pampa In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Amazon rainforest The extent of the environmental damage in the Amazon rainforest afp/getty images In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Indonesia Destruction remains from tropical rainforest in Kuala Cenaku in Riau Province, Sumatra. Norway entered a partnership with Indonesia to support Indonesia's efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation of forests and peat lands. The business of pulp, palm oil and wood are causing the deforestation of Sumatra, the largest island owned by Indonesia, and is contributing global climate change to the extinction of many of the world's rare species In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Malaysia An area that has been cleared of rainforest to make way for a palm oil plantation in Sabah, Malaysia CORBIS In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Indonesia Regenerated palm oil trees are seen growing on the site of destroyed tropical rainforest in Kuala Cenaku GETTY IMAGES In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Brazil Brazil launched the Amazon Fund, aimed at protecting the rainforest so vital to the world's climate, and at combating climate change. In December 2008 Brazil launched a national climate change plan which proposed to cut the country's deforestation rate in half by 2018 Getty Images

In 2014 Norway made a joint declaration with Germany and the UK at a UN climate summit in New York, pledging to “promote national commitments that encourage deforestation-free supply chains, including through public procurement policies to sustainably source commodities such as palm oil, soy, beef and timber".