Eight major powers have pledged to put an end to the destruction of forests the world over and said they would persuade other countries to follow suit. The eight countries, the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany, Japan and Russia, meeting in London announced an "action programme" on Sunday to support sustainable forest management worldwide.The group of eight nations made a political commitment to protect their own forests and said they would address illegal logging and help develop counter-measures to stop it.