International climate finance: UK aid for halting deforestation and preventing irreversible biodiversity loss

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We awarded a green-amber score and made five recommendations for our review on UK aid for halting deforestation and preventing irreversible biodiversity loss. We have since completed our follow-up process assessing the government’s progress against our recommendations. Find out more on the ‘Further scrutiny’ tab.

Summary

Deforestation and biodiversity loss are topical areas of considerable public interest, where the UK government has made strong policy commitments. It is also one area of the global efforts to address climate change widely considered to be lagging.

Currently, just 3% of international climate finance to reduce emissions goes towards protecting forests and other ecosystems, even though tropical forest loss currently accounts for 8% of the world’s annual carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, biodiversity is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history and the rate of species extinctions is accelerating, with grave impacts on people around the world now likely.

The UK’s climate portfolio includes a wide range of measures relating to the protection of forests and biodiversity. ICAI estimates that the current portfolio includes more than £580 million in bilateral aid commitments related to deforestation and biodiversity, including headline programmes addressing illegal timber, forest governance and sustainable land use. An additional £1.3 billion in climate-related bilateral programming has recently been announced, which includes a £220 million International Biodiversity Fund to protect endangered species and habitats and a £100 million Biodiverse Landscapes Fund to protect mangroves and forests.

This review evaluates how well UK aid has helped to identify solutions and mobilise finance for tackling the challenges of deforestation and biodiversity loss.