"The climate change issue requires urgent attention and collective actions from the international community," Japanese Senior Vice Finance Minister Otohiko Endo said in a statement for the World Bank/IMF development committee meeting in Washington.

"Green house gas emission of the developing countries is on the rise driven mainly by rapid economic growth," Endo said.

He added that comprehensive measures covering industry, transportation and forestry were needed and that steps to adapt should also be strengthened to minimise the negative impact of climate change.

Deforestation contributes 20 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, more than all the world's cars, trucks, trains and airplanes combined.

Between 2000 and 2005, world forests equivalent to the size of 20 percent of Japan's land mass were deforested every year on average, the Japanese finance ministry said.

Brazil, Indonesia, Sudan, Myanmar and Zambia are the top five countries that lost their forests during those years, it added.

Environmental groups say that protecting tropical forests from cutting and burning is the most direct and fastest way to mitigate some of the impact of climate change.

The fund initially will have US$300 million to finance emission reductions and help prepare countries with the necessary tools to monitor the forests.