International funding for protected and conserved areas fell for a second consecutive year, dropping from more than US$1.2 billion in 2023 to US$1 billion in 2025, as governments close COP17 in Yerevan to advance the goal of protecting 30 per cent of land and waters by 2030.
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The decline leaves international support at roughly a sixth of the US$6 billion annual benchmark researchers identified as needed by 2030 to align funding with the global 30x30 target, according to a report commissioned by Campaign for Nature, The Pew Charitable Trusts and Rainforest Foundation Norway.
Adopted under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at COP15 in December 2022, the target calls for the effective conservation and management of at least 30 per cent of the world’s land, inland waters, and coastal and marine areas by 2030.
Yet bilateral, multilateral and philanthropic funding have all declined from recent peaks, widening the financing gap as the deadline approaches.
“We have seen conservation efforts up, especially in the Global South but those who were supposed to provide the increased funding are not living up to their end of the bargain,” said Steven Guilbeault, senior advisor at Campaign for Nature.
Support from the United States fell sharply following the closure of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The agency, the second-largest bilateral donor for protected and conserved areas since 2014, recorded funding 49 per cent below its 2022–2024 annual average, with major impacts in Cambodia and several African countries.
The report warned that the closure’s full effects would likely emerge more clearly in 2026, as the 2025 figures still included some disbursements for ongoing activities.
The dashed segment represents the potential impact of reporting lag, measured as the average annual 2022 to 2024 funding for selected philanthropic donors with missing data in 2025. Image: State of International 30x30 Funding
Germany remained the largest bilateral donor, providing approximately US$201 million in 2025 despite a 15 per cent decline from its 2022–2024 average. Canada bucked the trend, more than doubling direct funding from US$19 million in 2023 to approximately US$40 million in 2025.
Funding declined across all major recipient regions in 2025 for the first time since the study began in 2014.
Support for Asia fell slightly after remaining broadly unchanged in inflation-adjusted terms since 2014. The modest regional decline masked sharper cuts in individual countries: funding to Cambodia fell 47 per cent below its 2022 to 2024 annual average.
Funding in Asia also remained concentrated on conventional protected areas, noted the study. Activities supporting Indigenous and Traditional Territories, including projects combining these territories with protected areas, received roughly one-tenth of classified funding during 2022 to 2025, compared with about one-fifth in Latin America.
Africa experienced the largest absolute decline in recent years, receiving US$389 million in 2025, down 32 per cent from its 2022 to 2024 average. This largely reflected a surge in bilateral funding that was not sustained, following several large one-time grants in Ivory Coast and Benin that drove the region’s 2023 peak, said authors.
Funding to Latin America fell from its 2024 peak to levels close to those recorded during 2021 to 2023. Across regions, support for least developed countries declined 28 per cent from the 2022 to 2024 average.
The financing squeeze comes as conservation commitments remain insufficient. The separate 30x30 Global Assessment projects that existing quantified commitments would bring protection to approximately 27 per cent of land and inland waters and 12 per cent of oceans by 2030.
Meeting the target requires more than designating protected areas as funding must support effective management, equitable governance and the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities, the study said.
“The window to meet the 2030 targets is rapidly closing,” said Tørris Jæger, director of Rainforest Foundation Norway.
“Governments will need to drastically raise their ambition, accelerate implementation and scale up international finance. An ambitious and inclusive delivery of the Global Biodiversity Framework, and the 30x30 target in particular, is key to halting nature loss and ensuring the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities,” he added.
