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The UK government is introducing some new laws to help protect rainforests around the world.

The aim of the new laws is to help stop people in the UK from unknowingly buying products which have come from rainforests that have been illegally logged.

It aims to do this by banning companies in the UK from selling products which break local laws protecting rainforests and other natural areas in order for them to be made.

These new changes will be added to a new Environment Bill - that MPs will discuss.

It is thought that around half of all tropical deforestation (the clearing of trees and wildlife) is illegal.

This is because of things like the building and farming industries, which clear land for roads and to make room for grazing animals, and growing crops.

Deforestation is a huge environmental issue.

This is because the world's rainforests are vitally important for helping to absorb carbon dioxide, which can cause climate change problems, as well as being home to rare species of plants and animals which can't be found anywhere else on Earth.

"The government recognises the responsibility of the UK to ensure we are not importing deforestation and contributing to further environmental crisis." said Sir Ian Cheshire, who is the chairman of the Global Resource Initiative Taskforce, set up to look into the new laws.

The International Environment Minister, Lord Goldsmith, said: "In every conceivable way we depend on the natural world around us. Protecting rainforests must be a core priority.

"Our new due diligence law is one piece of a much bigger package of measures that we are putting in place to tackle deforestation."

The news has been welcomed by some environmental groups, but they have also raised some questions about how the new rules will be enforced.

"This is really a great step to protect rainforests - but we don't know the full details yet." said Ruth Chambers, who works for Greener UK.

"The other issue is that this ban only refers to illegally deforested land… in some countries forest protection is so weak that rainforests are being felled legally. What will the government do about that?"

Many supermarkets in the UK have also supported the new laws, including Tesco, which says it has a goal of reaching "zero deforestation".