Introduction
Our members’ work ranges from on the ground development and conservation projects; providing data and guidance to enable change; investigations and research, as well as advocacy and campaigning.
Whilst each member organisation has its own activities and areas of expertise and engagement, the focus in coming together in this Coalition is on UK Government policies, funding, programmes, and actions.
The United Kingdom has long been a world leader in the fight against the destruction of forests and biodiversity loss, the promotion of sustainable and legal trade in forest products, and the securing of jobs and tenure for local people to uphold their rights and reduce poverty. The national and global importance of maintaining this leadership role has never been greater.
Protecting forest funding
The NGO Forest Coalition is committed to ensuring that the UK government maintains and ultimately increases funding for tropical forests. Protecting forests and the Indigenous Peoples that have been their guardians for generations is crucial for global climate, biodiversity and human rights goals. Members of the NGO forest coalition recently wrote to government ministers making the case for the protection of forest funding from UK aid cuts.
UK due diligence laws
The UK Environment Act came into force in November 2021 and includes provisions under its Schedule 17 to ban the use of commodities and derived products in UK commercial activities that are linked to illegal deforestation overseas.
To come into force, Schedule 17 requires secondary legislation. At COP28 in Dubai, the then Conservative UK government published some proposals for the secondary legislation, but it was never put before Parliament. Now there is a new government, the NGO Forest Coalition is working to ensure this secondary legislation is placed before Parliament and is ambitious and effective, with strong accompanying partnerships, to ensure that UK supply chains are both sustainable and accountable.
Finance Sector Regulation
As a coalition we believe that due diligence legislation should also cover the finance sector. Loans and investments from financial institutions provide the capital behind deforestation. That gives the finance sector real power to drive change.
Regulation of the finance sector was a key recommendation from the Environmental Audit Committee’s report released in January 2024. It was also recommended by the Global Resource Initiative task force and the subsequent working group on finance due to the slow progress by the finance sector voluntarily.
The coalition also lobbied the government to regulate the finance sector as part of the 2024 Financial Services and Markets bill, after an amendment demanding regulation received cross party support. Now the Treasury is committed to a review assessing whether the current regulation of the finance sector is adequate.
The APPG on Global Deforestation
The NGO Forest coalition has provided the Secretariat for the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Deforestation since its launch in spring 2022. The first meeting of the new Parliament’s APPG on Global Deforestation took place on 6th November 2024.
The All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Deforestation provides a cross-party forum to discuss and promote greater awareness of the impacts of global deforestation for communities, the climate, for nature and human rights. The group will consider the UK’s role in contributing to global deforestation, as well as considering UK and international approaches to addressing global deforestation.
For more information visit the APPG site.
NGO Forest Coalition 