The NGO Forest Coalition has sent a letter to the UK’s new prime minister, Andy Burnham, calling for urgent action to stop global deforestation. In June 2026, the government (under Keir Starmer) published a policy paper on strengthening the UK’s approach to global deforestation, with the aim of decoupling UK consumption from global deforestation.
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Restore the UK’s International Climate Finance and increase direct funding to Indigenous Peoples and local communities, in line with the Forest and Land Tenure Pledge; and
Implement the Government’s commitment to introduce robust deforestation regulations without further delay.
Earlier this year, the UK government published a bombshell report titled “Global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security.” The report warns that “Global ecosystem degradation and collapse threaten UK national security and prosperity.” Critical ecosystems that support food production areas and global climate, water, and weather cycles are “most important for UK national security”.
But the report that the government published is only part of the story — and even that was only released following a freedom of information request. An internal version of the full report, seen by TheTimes, goes much further.
The Times reports that the full report describes a “reasonable worst case scenario”. Many ecosystems around the world are so stressed that they could soon pass a tipping point. Once this tipping point is reached ecosystems degrade regardless of conservation measures taken to protect them. The full report states that forests in Canada and Russia could pass a tipping point by 2030, along with glaciers in the Himalayas that feed rivers that two billion people depend on.
Shortly after the abridged version of the report was published, the government cut climate finance by 20%.
The NGO Forest Coalition letter is posted in full here — it can also be downloaded here:
28 July 2026
To: Andy Burnham MP, Prime Minister
CC: Ed Miliband, Foreign Secretary CC: Dame Angela Eagle, DBE MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs CC: Miatta Fahnbulleh MP, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero CC: Kirsty McNeill MP, Minister for International Development and Africa
Dear Prime Minister,
Ending global deforestation
We are writing on behalf of the NGO Forest Coalition, a coalition of UK NGOs working to end global deforestation, to congratulate you on becoming Prime Minister. The UK is a global leader in efforts to protect tropical forests and uphold the rights of forest peoples, and we look to you to sustain and strengthen this leadership in the years ahead. As the architect of the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests, endorsed by more than 130 countries, the UK has committed to halting and reversing forest loss and land degradation by 2030.
With the clock ticking, we look to you to provide leadership on the following in support of ending global deforestation:
Restoring the UK’s International Climate Finance to previous levels and increasing direct financing for Indigenous Peoples and local communities in line with the Forest and Land Tenure Pledge made at COP30.
Action to end global deforestation is urgent because:
Global deforestation poses a national security threat. Deforestation-driven biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse are high-level threats to UK national security according to the government’s own national security assessment report.
UK businesses are calling for robust forest risk commodity regulations and close alignment with the EU Deforestation Regulation, saying that a clear policy environment is good for business. The UK Cocoa Coalition and the Retail Soy Group have called for the UK government to adopt forest risk commodity legislation because the delay is causing market confusion.
Financial institutions want to see an end to global deforestation, recognising that it poses a material risk. They want to see supply chain regulation and have called for mandatory financial due diligence to end the financing of deforestation.
Nature loss is bad for economic growth. Nature loss – including deforestation – could cause a 12% hit to the country’s GDP – larger than the impact of the global financial crisis or Covid-19. Around half of UK nature-related risks come from overseas, through supply chains and financial exposures.
Since the Environment Act was passed in 2021, more than 54,000 hectares of forest have been destroyed to produce goods imported to the UK. The impacts extend far beyond the loss of trees, threatening the rights, territories and livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples and local communities who depend on these forests and play a vital role in protecting them.
Ending deforestation is a key part of tackling climate change – deforestation contributes 11% of global carbon emissions, surpassing those from aviation and cement production. Furthermore, when we lose forests, we lose a key means of restoring climate stability for future generations.
Public support for action is strong. Polling in October 2025 by More in Common for Global Witness and WWF-UK found that 76% of Britons support the UK’s commitment to end deforestation by 2030, including a majority of Reform voters.
As we await the publication of the Responsible Business Conduct review we also call for new legislation in the form of a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act (BHREA): mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation that requires all businesses, financial institutions, and the public sector to address and prevent environmental and human rights harms in their global value chains. This would complement UK regulations on deforestation, further align the UK with EU legislation and has strong support from UK business.
Ending deforestation is good for the UK’s national security and good for business, biodiversity, climate and human rights. We look forward to working with you to achieve this.
Yours faithfully on behalf of the undersigned,
Signatories:
Matthew Owen, Director, Cool Earth Rubens Carvalho, Deputy Director, Earthsight Faith Doherty, Forest Programme Lead, Environmental Investigation Agency Julia Christian, Co-Campaigns Coordinator, Fern Asad Rehman, Chief Executive, Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland Helen Bellfield, Deputy Executive Director, Global Canopy Alex Reid, Deputy Director of Campaigns, Global Witness Gemma Hoskins, Global Climate Director, Mighty Earth Joe Eisen, Executive, Rainforest Foundation UK Gavin Crowden - Director of Advocacy WWF UK
