To aid implementation of the CBD, the UK Government provides financial support for activities both within and outside the UK.
Funding within the UK
The respective Governments of the UK provide funding for biodiversity conservation activities within their territories. Further information can be found on the respective Government websites for each England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The National Lottery’s Heritage Lottery Fund (a publicly owned lottery) also provides funding for biodiversity conservation across the UK from the proceeds of lottery ticket sales.
The UK Government provides funding for ecological research, including research relevant to the implementation of the CBD within the UK, through the Natural Environment Research Council.
Funding Outside the UK
The UK provides a variety of bilateral and multilateral funding for biodiversity-related projects outside the UK, including in the UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. Much of this funding is linked to achieving wider socio-economic development goals through Official Development Assistance (ODA) (also known as the 'overseas aid budget').
The UK committed £3bn International Climate Finance (ICF) from 2021-2026 for climate change solutions that protect, restore, and sustainably manage nature as well as promoting sustainable livelihoods and prosperity. This £3bn represents over a quarter of the ICF budget which is around 5% of total ODA. Through ICF, several UK Government Departments provide financial support to developing countries to respond to the challenges and opportunities of climate change. This includes projects focussed on finding nature-based solutions which address climate change, poverty and biodiversity loss simultaneously. Of this £3bn, the UK has committed £1.5 billion for international forests between 2021-26, including £300 million for the Amazon and £200m for the Congo Basin, as part of the multi-donor £12 billion Global Forest Finance Pledge. UK forest programmes support tropical forests in tackling the drivers of deforestation including through sustainable supply chains and market development, support for indigenous peoples and local communities, improvements to governance and increased finance including through carbon markets and REDD+.
Below are details of large Funds through which we deliver biodiversity-related projects internationally:
The UK's £500 million Blue Planet Fund supports developing countries to reduce poverty, protect and sustainably manage their marine resources, and address human-generated threats across 4 key themes: biodiversity, climate change, marine pollution and sustainable seafood.
The UK has contributed £121.1 million to the BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISFL), making it the largest single donor to the fund. The programme rewards reduced greenhouse gas emissions and increased sequestration through better land management, including reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), climate-smart agriculture, and smarter land-use planning and policies. Biodiversity and nature is incorporated throughout all the BioCarbon Fund ISFL grant programmes, with specific sub-projects that help wildlife management and pilot biodiversity indicators within agricultural value chains.
The UK Government’s £100 million Biodiverse Landscapes Fund (BLF) will strengthen management of ecosystems and reduce poverty across six biodiverse landscapes between 2022-2030.
The UK is providing £40 million to a Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate (GCBC) to support research and development that can generate evidence and unlock new approaches to addressing biodiversity and climate challenges simultaneously.
The UK provides funding to the multilateral Global Environment Facility, which funds a variety of biodiversity conservation projects globally, including those relating to the implementation of the CBD.
The UK Government’s Darwin Initiative provides grants to projects in many different nations, helping countries to protect biodiversity through locally based projects and meet their commitments to CBD. Projects typically try to address threats to biodiversity such as: habitat loss or degradation; climate change; invasive species; over-exploitation; and pollution and eutrophication. Darwin Plus is a related fund, supporting projects that aim to protect the unique biodiversity and improve resilience to climate change within the UK Overseas Territories. The Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund is a further related UK Government fund, that provides support to projects around the world that are tackling the illegal wildlife trade.
The Integrated Security Fund (formerly the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund) is supported by several UK Government Departments and provides financial support to reduce the risk of instability within vulnerable countries. It funds a variety of projects, including those where biodiversity conservation contributes to stability and security.
The UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero also administer a variety of funding schemes, many of which can provide financial support to projects with a biodiversity conservation component. This includes funding for research and development, as well as implementation.
The UK Government provides funding for ecological research, including research relevant to the implementation of the CBD outside the UK, through the Natural Environment Research Council and the new International Science Partnerships Fund. Previous research funded through the Newton Fund and the Global Challenges Research Fund can be found here.