USAID achieves multiple conservation and development objectives through programs that protect biodiversity in forests and other ecosystems, maintain or increase carbon stocks in forests, and restore forests lost or damaged by poor management or land conversion. An annual report for Congress and the broader public summarizes Agency biodiversity and forestry results from the prior year and funding plans during the publication year.

USAID’s Biodiversity Conservation and Forestry Programs, 2016 Report 
FY 2015 Results and Funding (2.5MB PDF)
Published August 2016

SUMMARY:  In fiscal year 2015, the Agency invested $250 million toward biodiversity conservation in about 50 countries, with approximately 57 percent of funds going to the 12 highest priority countries and regions identified in USAID’s Biodiversity Policy.  About a quarter of FY 2015 funds were programmed to address wildlife crime in 25 countries, primarily to build capacity of law enforcement to deter, detect and disrupt poaching and wildlife trafficking, but also to reduce demand for wildlife products and foster international collaboration.  USAID forestry programming, which advances multiple objectives but primarily climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation, totaled $140 million in about 40 countries, almost entirely focused on tropical forests.

A selection of notable results and three in-depth project profiles serve to illustrate major approaches used by USAID and its partners. Agency programs had a substantial impact and reach in FY 2015, improving natural resource management across 75 million hectares of biologically significant area. Our programs built the capacity of 100,000 people to better manage, conserve and/or live without overexploiting biodiversity, and helped at least 800,000 people receive a tangible economic benefit from conservation enterprises or sustainable use.

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