Trump administration’s shutdown of USAID devastates global conservation efforts

After a sweeping dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, conservation projects protecting wildlife, forests, and ecosystems across dozens of countries are collapsing due to funding cuts.

Adam Welz reports for Yale Environment 360.

In short:

• USAID, once a major funder of international conservation, has been gutted by Trump’s executive actions, halting thousands of environmental projects.
• Conservation organizations, from the Amazon to Southeast Asia, are shutting down or scrambling for funding as billions in U.S. aid vanish.
• Former partners warn that broken trust with local communities and governments could have long-term effects on conservation and governance.

Key quote:

“All of that work was just stopped overnight. And the way it was done was impossible to plan for and very difficult to recover from.”

— Zeb Hogan, co-lead of the Wonders of the Mekong project

Why this matters:

USAID played a unique role in tying environmental protection to humanitarian development, a crucial bridge in countries with fragile ecosystems and governance. Its collapse leaves critical conservation areas — rainforests, rivers, savannahs — exposed to exploitation, and local communities without support for managing natural resources sustainably. The sudden withdrawal risks tipping vulnerable regions into greater instability, undermining years of trust-building with indigenous communities and conservation networks. Without stable funding, wildlife crime could spike, and natural carbon sinks like the Amazon and Congo Basin may be further degraded, accelerating global climate risks. Furthermore, the erosion of U.S. influence in conservation leaves space for illicit interests to fill the vacuum, threatening not just biodiversity but also local economies and health outcomes tied to intact environments.

Read more: USAID cancels thousands of contracts, cutting climate and energy programs