There was a time, not long ago, when the buffalo roamed freely across the Great Plains in numbers so vast they seemed to stretch beyond the horizon. Historical estimates place the pre-colonial buffalo population between 30 and 100 million, a living force that sustained prairie ecosystems, supported biodiversity, and held together entire economies, spiritual practices, and ways of life for Métis and First Nations Peoples.
This was more than environmental abundance; it was a relational system. For the Métis, the buffalo were at the centre of trade, food security, culture, and kinship. Buffalo were not “resources,” they were relatives. The buffalo economy was communal and guided by principles of care, respect, and reciprocity. It brought together families, communities, and Nations in mutual reliance with the land.
Then came the destruction.
In the late 1800s, colonial governments initiated a calculated and systematic extermination of the buffalo. The goal was not just to clear the land for settlement, but to remove the source of life and autonomy for Indigenous Peoples. By destroying the buffalo, colonial powers aimed to starve First Nations and Métis Peoples into submission, forcing them into treaties, reserves, and colonial dependency. From tens of millions of buffalo, the population was reduced to fewer than 300. This genocide of the buffalo created intergenerational trauma that still reverberates today, not just ecological devastation, but cultural, spiritual, and social loss.
For Métis families like Colin Arlt’s, this history is personal. As a child, Colin visited Regina, where he first encountered the buffalo not on the land, but through a sculpture in the city’s downtown. He remembers standing before that statue, inexplicably drawn to it, not knowing why. That moment planted a seed.
As Colin grew older and learned about his Métis heritage, he discovered that he descends directly from Métis buffalo hunters who lived in close relationship with the herds, following migrations, harvesting sustainably, and providing for their family and communities within a framework of care, ceremony, and respect. That knowledge transformed Colin’s life. The buffalo became more than a symbol of the past; they became his relatives, his teachers, and his responsibility.
Colin also learned a history not often taught in classrooms. “During the era of buffalo genocide, it was Indigenous stewards and leaders, not colonial governments, who made the bold decision to protect and preserve the last remaining buffalo.” With foresight, care, and deep spiritual commitment, Indigenous families and communities took in the buffalo, nurturing them in secrecy and hardship, keeping alive not only the animals themselves but the spirit and culture tied to them.
Many of the buffalo that roam today are descendants of those early protected herds. The DNA of the buffalo cared for by Indigenous Peoples flows through the bloodlines of countless buffalo across North America. Colin often shares this with pride, reminding young and old alike that it was Indigenous Peoples who ensured the buffalo would survive, grow, and one day return in abundance to their ancestral lands. In a time of near extinction, when the environment and social conditions were hostile, Indigenous communities chose to nurture life, ensuring that future generations, both buffalo and human, would not only survive but thrive. For Colin, this is not just a historical fact, it is a teaching. It is a legacy of stewardship, resilience, and relational responsibility that continues today.
What Is Buffalo Culture?
Today, Colin is one of many Indigenous leaders calling for the restoration of what he and others refer to as buffalo culture. Buffalo culture is not just about the physical animal; it encompasses a comprehensive worldview. It is a relational system that includes:
- The ecological role of buffalo as land stewards and climate indicators
- The cultural practices tied to buffalo, including ceremonies, stories, and material culture such as hide preparation.
- The spiritual bonds between people, buffalo, and land are based on reciprocity and respect.
- Economic systems rooted in balance, trade, and sustainable use
- Inter-Nation collaboration and kinship building through buffalo care and shared responsibility.
Buffalo culture teaches us that humans are part of a larger web of life, not at its pinnacle. When the buffalo were nearly eradicated, this entire worldview was threatened. Reviving buffalo culture is about healing the land, the people, and the relationships between them.
Buffalo as Ecological Regulators: The Environmental Rewards of Restoration
Buffalo are not passive inhabitants of the land; they actively shape and regulate ecosystems. When properly stewarded, they restore life in profound and measurable ways. Here are just a few of the environmental rewards buffalo bring:
Grassland Regeneration
Buffalo grazing stimulates grass growth and prevents over-dominance of any one plant species. Their unique grazing habits maintain open grasslands, which are among the world’s most endangered and carbon-sequestering ecosystems.
Soil Health and Aeration
The weight of buffalo hooves breaks up soil crusts, allowing air and water to penetrate the earth. This supports plant diversity, water retention, and overall land resilience.
Biodiversity and Habitat Creation
Buffalo wallows, the depressions they create by rolling in the earth, collect rainwater, creating micro-habitats for insects, birds, amphibians, and other wildlife. Their dung fertilizes the land, contributing to a richer web of life.
Climate Indicators
Buffalo migrations, calving patterns, and movement behaviours are direct reflections of environmental shifts. Buffalo are living climate witnesses, teaching us how the land is changing.
The Buffalo Culture Collective: Restoring Kinship and Ecology
Based in Saskatchewan, the Buffalo Culture Collective is a growing community of stewards, Elders, knowledge holders, and educators dedicated to revitalizing buffalo culture in the modern world. For the Collective, buffalo restoration is not just about repopulating herds; it’s about reviving the cultural, ecological, and spiritual relationships that have always existed between the buffalo and Indigenous Peoples.
The Collective’s mission is to reconnect people with the buffalo in ways that heal the land, rebuild kinship, and foster cross-cultural education. Through workshops, hide rematriation, storytelling, and buffalo-centred teachings, the Collective works to bring the buffalo back into the heart of community life, not just as animals, but as relatives, teachers, and guardians of ecological balance.
Colin, alongside his mentors and peers, envisions the Buffalo Culture Collective as a space where people from all backgrounds, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, can come together to learn, collaborate, and build a future rooted in shared care for the land and its more-than-human relatives.
The Collective focuses on:
- Education: Reintroducing buffalo knowledge to Métis, First Nations, and settler communities about the ecological, cultural, and spiritual significance of the buffalo
- Rematriation of Buffalo: bringing home buffalo by-products such as hides, skulls, bones, horns, hooves, and hearts, these items reconnect First Nations and Métis communities to the sacred responsibility of utilizing all parts of the buffalo, both edible and non-edible, for preparation, cultural practices, and land stewardship.
- Cultural Unity: envisioning a future relationship between First Nations and Métis Peoples rooted not in politics but in the shared care of the buffalo. Buffalo Culture Collective believes buffalo stewardship is a unifier, bringing people together in celebration, love, and kinship, beyond hardship and division.
- Environmental Stewardship: The Collective promotes the buffalo’s role in land health, teaching how herds support ecosystem regeneration, climate resilience, and community wellness
- Healing and Ceremony: Buffalo work is about restoring not just the land, but the spiritual and emotional balance of communities. It’s about bringing back the songs, ceremonies, and teachings that were nearly lost.
A Call to Action: Funding, Research, and Restoration
If we are serious about reconciliation, ecological restoration, and cultural resurgence, Canada must invest in buffalo restoration at all levels of government. This means:
- Funding buffalo-focused research that centers Indigenous knowledge systems and lived experiences, not just biology, but the full spectrum of buffalo culture.
- Investing in repopulation programs to expand buffalo herds and return them to their Indigenous lands and stewardship.
- Supporting the rematriation initiatives to reconnect communities with cultural practices and sacred responsibilities.
- Creating buffalo-based economies that respect the balance of nature while fostering local jobs, community well-being, and food security.
- Promoting cultural continuity by supporting Métis and First Nations teachings about the buffalo, ensuring these teachings thrive for future generations.
Buffalo restoration is not just an environmental issue; it is an act of nation-building, cultural healing, and ecological resilience.
Walking Forward Together
Across the prairies and beyond, Indigenous-led efforts to restore the buffalo are gaining momentum. From herd repopulation initiatives to the work of the Buffalo Culture Collective, a new era of buffalo-centred stewardship is emerging. For thousands of years, the buffalo cared for the people, providing food, shelter, tools, and teachings about how to live in balance with the land. Now, humanity has a responsibility to return that care. As one of Colin’s mentors reflected, it’s our turn to step forward. We must care for the buffalo, just as they once cared for us.
Colin believes that it’s time for all Canadians to step into this circle “the buffalo are calling us back into a relationship, the invitation is open.” He goes on to say, “Even if you’ve never seen a buffalo in its natural habitat, you are still part of this story. I encourage you to learn about the buffalo, to travel if you can, to stand in their presence, and to listen to the teachings they offer.” Leave with a sense of shared care and responsibility.
His final words are to “expand your understanding of what it truly means to be a steward of the land, not just to take from nature, but to give back, to protect, and to sustain life for the generations yet to come. This is not only about the buffalo’s future. It’s about yours, too.”
Get Involved
- Donate or advocate for Indigenous-led buffalo restoration projects.
- Support buffalo hide rematriation and cultural teaching programs through the Buffalo Culture Collective.
- Learn about the Buffalo Treaty and support its signatory Nations.
- Fund research that centers Indigenous science, culture, and ecological knowledge.
- Join the movement to restore buffalo culture, ecology, and economy for the land, the people, and future generations.
Want to learn more about the Buffalo Culture Collective or collaborate on buffalo preservation and education initiatives? Reach out to Colin at colin@buffaloculturecollective.ca.
You can also listen to Colin Arlt’s interview on the Indigenous Climate Hub Podcast on Spotify – Returning Buffalo, Restoring Kinship: A Conversation with Colin Arlt.
Blog by Colin Arlt and Rye Karonhiowanen Barberstock
Image Credits: Colin Arlt
The post Buffalo Are Not Just History: Restoring Kinship, Ecology, and Culture Through the Buffalo appeared first on Indigenous Climate Hub.
Buffalo Are Not Just History: Restoring Kinship, Ecology, and Culture Through the Buffalo
Mohamed Adow is the founder and director of Power Shift Africa.
At London Climate Action Week, electrification moved from the margins of climate policy to the centre of the road to COP31. The launch of the Electrify Now campaign gave fresh momentum to a target floated at the Bonn climate talks: by 2035, electricity should provide 35% of the world’s final energy consumption, up from just over 20% today.
That makes electrification one of the defining tests for this year’s climate summit in Türkiye. If COP31 is to be more than another exercise in negotiating text, it must show how the world can replace fossil fuels in transport, heating, industry and everyday life with clean electricity.
For Africa, this agenda presents both an extraordinary opportunity and an immense challenge.
For decades, the continent has been viewed primarily through the lens of energy poverty. More than 600 million Africans still lack access to electricity. Yet that very deficit also means many African countries are not locked into ageing fossil-fuel infrastructure in the way industrialised economies are. They have the chance to build cleaner energy systems from the outset.
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COP31 leaders unveil global targets, with spotlight on electrification
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EU, UK lead push for electrification as “powerful weapon” against fossil fuels
A group of dozens of countries seeks to build momentum for a COP31 pledge to electrify 35% of global energy use by 2035 as an alternative to fossil fuels
The case for electrification is compelling. Transport, industry and heating account for much of the world’s fossil-fuel consumption. Replacing combustion engines with electric vehicles, diesel generators with renewable power and fossil-fuel heating with electric alternatives is one of the fastest ways to cut emissions while improving energy security. Electric technologies are also far more efficient, and renewable electricity is now the cheapest source of new power across much of the world.
Africa also possesses one of the greatest renewable energy endowments on Earth. The continent possesses some of the world’s best solar resources. Vast wind corridors stretch across North, East and Southern Africa. Geothermal energy is already powering much of Kenya’s electricity system. Hydropower resources remain significant in several regions.
But potential is not the same as progress.
The biggest obstacle is not a lack of sunshine or wind. It is a shortage of investment.
Financial barriers
African countries pay some of the highest borrowing costs in the world despite contributing the least to climate change. Projects that would be commercially viable elsewhere become prohibitively expensive because of high interest rates and perceptions of financial risk. Until the cost of capital falls, many countries will struggle to build the renewable power stations, transmission lines and battery storage needed to electrify their economies.
The electricity itself is another challenge. It is difficult to persuade people to buy electric vehicles or industries to electrify production if power supplies remain unreliable. Many national grids require major investment to expand access, improve reliability and accommodate growing volumes of renewable energy. In rural areas, decentralised solar and battery systems will often provide the quickest route to universal electricity access, but they too require finance and supportive policy frameworks.
Industrial policy matters just as much.
Africa is rich in many of the minerals needed for batteries and clean technologies, yet too often it exports raw materials and imports finished products. If electrification simply creates new markets for imported batteries, electric vehicles and solar equipment, much of the economic opportunity will be lost. The transition should also become a strategy for building African manufacturing, creating skilled jobs and capturing more value from the continent’s own resources.
There are encouraging signs. Ethiopia has pushed aggressively to promote electric mobility while seeking to reduce its dependence on imported oil. Kenya has become a global leader in geothermal electricity and is seeing rapid growth in electric motorcycles. Morocco is building an industrial base around renewable energy and battery supply chains.
Electrification is happening
These examples show that electrification is no longer a distant prospect. But they also remain outliers rather than the norm. For most African countries, unreliable grids, high borrowing costs and limited access to finance still stand in the way of a much broader transformation. That is precisely why the emerging electrification agenda matters.
If the world wants electricity to account for 35% of final energy demand by 2035, then success cannot be measured simply by announcing a global target. It must be measured by whether developing countries have the finance, technology and policy support to make that transition possible.
For Africa, electrification is not only about reducing emissions. It is about determining what kind of development path the world’s youngest and fastest-growing continent will follow.
More than a billion people live in Africa today. By mid-century, that number will be closer to 2.5 billion. This is a continent on the cusp of sweeping economic transformation, with cities expanding, industries growing and hundreds of millions of people rightly demanding the energy, mobility and prosperity long enjoyed elsewhere.
Campaigners oppose Dangote’s planned Kenya refinery over climate and ecological risks
That development will require vast amounts of power. The question is whether it will be delivered through the old fossil-fuel model of imported oil, gas infrastructure and polluting combustion, or through clean electricity generated from Africa’s own renewable resources.
This matters for Africa. But it also matters for the world. A global transition to electrification cannot succeed if a continent of this scale is locked into a new generation of fossil-fuel dependence. Nor can it be just if Africa is told to decarbonise without being given the finance and technology to build something better.
The choice facing COP31 is therefore not simply whether electrification will happen. It is whether Africa is helped to become an electro-state continent, powering its development through clean electricity, or pushed by neglect into repeating the fossil-fuel pathway that has already destabilised the climate.
For the age of electrification to be a success, COP31 needs to ensure Africa is equipped to shape and accelerate it. If Africa is left behind, the global energy transition will fall behind with it.
The post Africa can lead the Age of Electrification appeared first on Climate Home News.
The UK has abandoned projects worth tens of millions of pounds that were meant to help protect Congo rainforests and support local people.
Together, these initiatives would have made up around half of the £200m that the UK pledged to support conservation in the Congo basin – the world’s second-largest rainforest.
When it hosted COP26 in Glasgow, the UK led a new initiative to end forest loss, which included a collective pledge by 12 donors of “at least” $1.5bn (£1.1bn) for Congo rainforest nations by 2025.
Development minister Jenny Chapman revealed last week that, as of 2024, the UK had only provided £39.8m towards this goal.
Alongside the US and much of Europe, the UK has significantly cut its aid budget in recent years, leading to much of its Congo rainforest spending being cancelled or reappraised.
The government says it still plans to “prioritise” rainforest regions, including the Congo basin, but civil society groups and MPs are concerned about the lack of “ring-fenced” forest funding in the UK’s new aid strategy.
COP pledge
At COP26, the UK – led by then prime minister Boris Johnson – launched the “Glasgow leaders’ declaration”, with a goal to “halt and reverse forest loss” by 2030. This was backed by more than 140 nations.
The UK also made various funding pledges, including £200m to protect the Congo basin, £350m for tropical forests in Indonesia and “up to £300m” for the Amazon.
These commitments target the world’s three largest rainforests, all of which face major forest loss due to threats such as agriculture, logging and climate change.
The Congo basin is the planet’s largest forested carbon sink. Yet, its six host nations are among the poorest in the world and face significant funding barriers.
This has global ramifications. An official UK assessment warned that “degradation or collapse” of the Amazon or Congo rainforests “threaten UK national security and prosperity”.
Forest cuts
Following successive aid cuts introduced by both the Conservative and then Labour governments – tracking a global trend – the UK’s Congo funding is under threat.
The Congo basin forest action programme (CBFA) was launched by the UK at COP27. It was explicitly set up to provide “roughly half” of the UK’s £200m Congo pledge.
CBFA set out to “empower central African nations”, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with support for “community forests” and other measures to curb forest loss.
Now, after reporting delays, the UK has slashed the CBFA as part of the Labour government’s recent aid cuts, intended to free up money for defence spending.
Its original £90m budget has now been reduced to £18.8m. Government data shows that £15m of this has already been spent.
This is not the only Congo project that has been dropped due to this latest round of aid cuts.
The Congo part of the biodiverse landscapes fund – championed by the previous government and worth at least £12.3m – has been closed, just two years into its seven-year schedule.
Government documents reveal more Congo forest funding is at risk as the UK scales back its aid budget, including the UK’s two largest remaining projects in the region.
One initiative, intended to “incubate forest-friendly enterprises” in DRC, faces “reduc[ed] budgets”. Officials working on the other, while more optimistic, reported that the project may be forced to operate in fewer countries as the cuts set in.
Documents also reveal the difficulties that come when operating in the Congo, including “complex political economies” and, in Gabon, a military coup – which “complicated matters”.
‘Breaking promises’
Damian Fleming, a senior director of forests at WWF International tells Carbon Brief:
“Tropical forest countries are making long-term policy and development choices in expectation that international partners will honour their commitments.”
In a series of recent parliamentary responses, Chapman revealed that the UK had only spent £39.8m on Congo forest finance, as of 2024. (She declined to provide any information on the Indonesia and Amazon regional goals.)
Despite being presented as the UK’s “contribution” to the £1.1bn-by-2025 global goal agreed at COP26, the £200m target has a deadline of 2029.
Therefore, while the collective goal has been met, the UK’s contribution so far has been relatively small.
Zac Goldsmith, a former Conservative minister who oversaw the forest targets at COP26, tells Carbon Brief that, in his view, the UK has “discarded” its regional pledges:
“We have gone from being perhaps the leader on protecting nature internationally to breaking promises to countries around the world for whom the environment is an existential issue.”
Future targets
The Labour government says it has met the five-year “climate finance” target of £11.6bn that expires this year.
Ministers also say the government has met “and exceeded” the £3bn and £1.5bn sub-goals for “preserving nature” and forests, respectively, within the £11.6bn. These are the funding streams that include support for the Congo basin and other rainforests.
The UK has funded a variety of projects in line with its forest goals, including mangrove restoration in Indonesia, support for carbon-offsetting projects in Brazil and promoting “forest stewardship” among farmers in Cameroon.
Chapman has stated that the UK will continue to “prioritise” the Congo rainforest, in line with its new plan for aid spending in Africa. The UK even helped to launch a new “call to action” for Congo basin funding at COP30 last year.
The UK government also says it supported the creation of Brazil’s flagship “Tropical Forest Forever Facility” (TFFF). However, so far it has not provided any funding for the facility.
When the government announced a new climate finance pledge for 2026 onwards, it stressed that nature would still be a “focus” and said it would also generate billions in “climate and nature positive investments”. Nevertheless, it dropped the “ring-fenced” amounts for nature and forests that had appeared in its previous pledge.
The UK, alongside other developed countries, has pledged to provide biodiversity finance to developing countries, under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) – a non-binding global pact to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.
Sarah Champion, chair of the international development committee of MPs, says “sub-pledges” for nature and forests are a “cost-effective and impactful” way to ensure this finance is provided, alongside climate finance. She tells Carbon Brief that she was “concerned” about the move away from this approach:
“When the minister recently appeared before the international development committee, I was concerned to hear her characterise this shift as a ‘gamble’.”
A government spokesperson tells Carbon Brief:
“We remain committed to providing finance for forests, including in the Congo basin, as a core element of our overall climate funding.”
A shorter version of this article was first published in Cropped, Carbon Brief’s fortnightly newsletter that provides a digest of food, land and nature news, on 15 July 2026. Subscribe for free.
The post UK withdraws millions in funding from world’s second-largest rainforest in Congo appeared first on Carbon Brief.
UK withdraws millions in funding from world’s second-largest rainforest in Congo
Climate Change
Cropped 15 July 2026: Uganda starves | Trump opens endangered habitats | UK cuts rainforest aid
We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s fortnightly Cropped email newsletter.
Subscribe for free here.
Key developments
Global drought and heat
DRY THEN WET: A recent heatwave and months of low rainfall has led to a prolonged drought for Uganda, resulting in at least 16 deaths from hunger and significant crop losses, reported BBC News. Bastille Post Global suggested that “a developing El Niño later this year could bring heavier rainfall to parts of the region, raising the risk of flooding in areas now struggling with drought”.
FUNDING FOOD: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have appealed for $200m in funding to help African nations deal with the impact of El Niño, stated Deutsche Welle. This would target 22 high-risk countries with measures, including “cash transfers, climate-resilient seeds, livestock protection and flood control.” The Guardian explained how El Niño could still “cause a severe shock to global food prices lasting into 2028”.
FARMING FEARS: Extreme weather has devastated agriculture across the world. India saw its driest June in 12 years, reported BBC News, and France has had a “double-digit production” decline, according to Le Monde. The Financial Times reported that farmers in the UK are mitigating the impacts of extreme heat by eliminating “chemicals and intensive ploughing to improve soil quality so it retains water”.
EURO FIRES: Wildfires have spread across Europe, with Spain reporting at least 12 deaths so far, according to the Guardian, and France experiencing road closures, said Reuters. Wildfire Today reported that the most extreme conditions are “across France, Spain and northern Portugal, the Alpine arc extending into northern Italy, the south of the UK and south-east Ireland”. CNN explained how “the climate crisis is driving hotter, drier weather, which is setting the stage for fiercer fire seasons”.
Endangering species
REDEFINING HARM: The Trump administration “reversed decades of longstanding environmental law protecting endangered species…opening up sensitive habitats…to drilling, mining, farming and real estate development”, reported CNN. According to the story, the change “redefines what constitutes ‘harm’” to endangered species, which historically prohibited habitat modification or degradation. Agence France-Presse reported that US environmental groups sued the Trump government over the move, arguing that it had violated “common sense, biological science and federal law”.
OPEN SEASON: Reuters reported that the change “limits the reach of the 50-year-old Endangered Species Act” (ESA), which is a “key regulatory consideration” when granting permits for “oil and gas, mining, electric transmission and other operations on federal lands and water”. Legal scholars told the New York Times the US government “was acting without conducting scientific research into the impact” of the change, while the National Mining Association “applauded the announcement”.
News and views
- INTERNATIONAL WATERS: After a significant delay, the UK ratified the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement (BBNJ), also known as the High Seas Treaty. Oceanographic detailed how this will allow for “marine protected areas across international waters for the first time”, but also stressed that the “hard part” starts now.
- SCOPE-FREE: The world’s largest meat supplier JBS “scrapped a key climate goal” in its net-zero plan that accounts for its suppliers’ emissions, “which make up the vast bulk of the company’s environmental footprint”, reported the Financial Times. The company told the paper it was difficult to control these “indirect” emissions.
- DEEP TROUBLE: Pacific gray whales are facing a “catastrophic die-off” as sea-ice loss threatens their food sources, said the Guardian. Separately, conservationists warned that more than half of all molluscs that “cluster around underwater vents” could face extinction from deep-sea mining, reported Reuters.
- ETHANOL PUSHBACK: India’s new rules to promote 100% ethanol fuel and make ethanol-blended fuel mandatory at pumps “triggered a political row”, reported the Times of India. While the Indian government defended the push to automobile owners, a Hindu editorial and an Indian Express comment warned against incentivising fuels made from “water-intensive” sugarcane and rice.
- AMAZON ACTION: Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell to its lowest level in a decade, but president Lula’s plans to “end illegal deforestation by 2030” could be hampered if he is not re-elected, reported Al Jazeera. Meanwhile, Colombia’s outgoing environment minister warned of greater environmental and climate risk under the incoming government, said the Associated Press.
- WAR WORRIES: The International Energy Agency (IEA) warned of the impact of the Iran war on Africa’s clean cooking efforts as disruption in the strait of Hormuz has stunted supplies and increased prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), explained Climate Home News.
Spotlight
UK ‘discards’ Congo rainforest funding
Amid worldwide cuts to aid spending, Carbon Brief explores how the UK is backtracking on funding for the Congo basin – the world’s second-largest rainforest.
The UK has abandoned projects worth tens of millions of pounds that were meant to help protect Congo rainforests and support local people.
Together, these initiatives would have made up half of the £200m that the UK pledged to support forest conservation in the Congo basin.
When it hosted COP26 in Glasgow, the UK led a new initiative to end forest loss, which included a collective pledge of “at least” $1.5bn (£1.1bn) for Congo rainforest nations by 2025.
Development minister Jenny Chapman revealed last week that, as of 2024, the UK had only provided £39.8m towards this goal.
COP pledge
At COP26, the UK – led by then prime minister Boris Johnson – launched the “Glasgow leaders’ declaration”, with a goal to “halt and reverse forest loss” by 2030.
The UK also made various regional funding pledges, including £200m for the Congo basin, £350m for tropical forests in Indonesia and “up to £300m” for the Amazon.
All of these rainforests face major forest loss. The Congo basin is the planet’s largest forested carbon sink, but its six host nations are among the poorest in the world and face significant funding barriers.
This has global ramifications. An official UK assessment warned that “degradation or collapse” of the Amazon or Congo rainforests “threaten UK national security and prosperity”.
Forest cuts
Following successive aid cuts introduced by both Conservative and Labour governments – tracking a global trend – the UK’s Congo funding is under threat.
The Congo basin forest action programme (CBFA) was explicitly set up to provide “roughly half” of the UK’s £200m Congo pledge.
Now, after reporting delays, the UK has slashed the CBFA as part of the Labour government’s aid cuts. Its £90m budget has been “quietly reduced by 79% to £18.8m”, according to the Times.
This is not the only Congo project that has been dropped due to aid cuts. The Congo part of the biodiverse landscapes fund – worth at least £12.3m – has closed five years early.
Official documents reveal more Congo forest funding is at risk, including the UK’s two largest remaining projects in the region. One initiative, intended to “incubate forest-friendly enterprises” in DRC, faces “reduc[ed] budgets”.
Documents also show the difficulties operating in the Congo, including “complex political economies” and, in Gabon, a military coup – which “complicated matters”.
‘Breaking promises’
Damian Fleming, a senior forests director at WWF International told Carbon Brief:
“Tropical forest countries are making long-term policy and development choices in expectation that international partners will honour their commitments.”
In a parliamentary response, Chapman said that the UK had spent £39.8m towards its £200m Congo target, as of 2024.
Despite being described as the UK’s contribution to the £1.1bn-by-2025 global goal agreed at COP26, the £200m target has a deadline of 2029. Therefore, while the collective goal has been met, the UK’s contribution was relatively small.
Zac Goldsmith, a former Conservative minister who oversaw the forest targets at COP26, told Carbon Brief that, in his view, the UK has “discarded” its regional pledges:
“We have gone from being perhaps the leader on protecting nature internationally to breaking promises to countries around the world.”
The Labour government says it has met its overarching “climate finance” goals and still intends to “prioritise” the Congo rainforest.
However, civil society groups and MPs are concerned about the lack of “ring-fenced” forest funding in the UK’s new aid strategy.
Watch, read, listen
TOXIC TROUBLES: DeSmog unpacked a new report that said Northern Ireland is being turned into a “toxic” pig and poultry farming “sacrifice zone” to satiate the UK’s meat appetite.
NEED TO NOAA: Laid-off scientists from the US’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) launched Climate.Us – an independent, public-backed version of the climate information website shut down by Trump last year.
DRY FRUIT: A Dialogue Earth long read looked at how climate change is impacting apricot harvests in the “stark, high-altitude desert” region of Ladakh, India.
READING ALOUD: A London Review of Books podcast discussed Robin Wall Kimmerer’s influential book “Braiding Sweetgrass”, weighing its compelling themes and where it veers into “scientific overreach”.
New science
- Climate change could cause Indigenous peoples in the Amazon to lose 28-34% of their plant species and 18-23% of their associated services | Nature
- Biodiversity in forests can act as a “buffer” against compound extreme weather events | Nature Communications
- Zero-deforestation commitments in Indonesia’s palm oil sector have had “no additional impacts” on reducing forest loss | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
In the diary
- 7-15 July: High-level political forum on sustainable development | New York City
- 13-31 July: Meeting of the International Seabed Authority assembly and council | Kingston, Jamaica
- 16 July: International Energy Agency critical minerals outlook 2026, online
- 27 July-1 August: Scientific and technical subsidiary body meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity | Nairobi, Kenya
This edition of Cropped was written by Jess Milligan, Josh Gabbatiss and Aruna Chandrasekhar. Cropped is edited by Dr Giuliana Viglione. This edition was edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send tips and feedback to cropped@carbonbrief.org.
The post Cropped 15 July 2026: Uganda starves | Trump opens endangered habitats | UK cuts rainforest aid appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Cropped 15 July 2026: Uganda starves | Trump opens endangered habitats | UK cuts rainforest aid
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Greenhouse Gases2 years ago嘉宾来稿：满足中国增长的用电需求 光伏加储能“比新建煤电更实惠”
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Climate Change2 years ago嘉宾来稿：满足中国增长的用电需求 光伏加储能“比新建煤电更实惠”
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Climate Change2 years ago
Bill Discounting Climate Change in Florida’s Energy Policy Awaits DeSantis’ Approval
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Renewable Energy9 months agoSending Progressive Philanthropist George Soros to Prison?
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Carbon Footprint2 years agoUS SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rules Spur Renewed Interest in Carbon Credits
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Greenhouse Gases1 year ago
嘉宾来稿：探究火山喷发如何影响气候预测