The United Kingdom has withdrawn or significantly reduced funding for multiple conservation initiatives in the Congo basin rainforest, marking a substantial departure from commitments made at the COP26 climate conference held in Glasgow. The funding reductions are part of broader aid budget cuts implemented by the government to allocate resources toward defense spending.
When the UK hosted COP26, it led an international coalition of 12 donor nations in pledging at least $1.5bn toward Congo rainforest protection by 2025. The UK’s individual commitment was £200m to support conservation in the Congo basin, which serves as the planet’s largest forested carbon sink. However, development minister Jenny Chapman disclosed that as of 2024, the UK had only provided £39.8m toward this goal, representing less than one-fifth of the pledged amount.
Among the projects affected is the Congo Basin Forest Action Programme (CBFA), which was explicitly designed to deliver roughly half of the UK’s £200m pledge. Originally budgeted at £90m, the initiative has been reduced to £18.8m, with £15m already spent. Additionally, the Congo component of the biodiverse landscapes fund, valued at £12.3m, has been closed after just two years of its seven-year implementation schedule. Government documents indicate that the UK’s two largest remaining projects in the region face potential further cuts as the aid budget contracts.
Conservation organizations and parliament members have raised concerns about the absence of dedicated forest funding allocations in the UK’s revised aid strategy. The government maintains its commitment to prioritize rainforest regions, but critics argue that without ring-fenced funding, such promises lack concrete enforcement mechanisms. Officials also noted operational challenges in the region, including complex political environments and disruptions such as the military coup in Gabon.
The UK government has stated it met its five-year climate finance targets and achieved sub-goals related to nature and forest preservation. However, the new climate finance pledge announced for subsequent years removed specific ring-fenced amounts for nature and forest protection that existed in previous commitments, instead framing them as part of broader climate and nature investment goals.
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