K2: Developing countries better able to protect and improve the environment with UK support
Short Description
The poorest people and countries in the world are often the most vulnerable and likely to be hardest hit by the degradation of natural environments. Climate change and the deterioration of natural environments are prime drivers of poverty, food insecurity and instability, and can trigger conflict and migration. This indicator will report outcomes of UK investment programmes into nature. These programmes include International Climate Finance, the Blue Planet Fund and other nature focussed programmes such as the Biodiversity Challenge Funds (for example, the Darwin Initiative and the Illegal Wildlife Challenge Fund); they support developing countries to protect and improve the environment, address illegal wildlife trade, mitigate and adapt to climate change and alleviate poverty.
Readiness and links to data
This indicator is not available in for reporting in 2024 in a finalised form. An interim indicator here is presented for the first time from the International Climate Finance (ICF) Results. The indicator K2a tracks the results across 15 different ICF Programmes, measuring the difference in area of ecosystem coverage where ecosystem loss has been avoided because of intervention. It is listed under ICF Key Performance Indicator 8 within the ICF results. The indicator tracks the removal or reduction in pressures from sources including but not limited to logging, water extraction, mining, invasive species and pollution. A baseline measurement is made for the ecosystem, with a counterfactual modelled on what would occur in the absence of intervention. The programmes are assessed annually or at set milestones against the counterfactual to provide the total land area that has avoided ecosystem loss. This includes assessment of the condition of the habitat retained, to ensure it has been maintained in a functioning state and not degraded.
Ecosystem degradation is a major driver of biodiversity loss and reduces the potential benefits people derive from the natural environment. Sustainable management practices can help to limit the impacts of climate change, protect ecosystem services and protect biodiversity. K2b tracks the results from 16 different ICF Programmes, identifying the total area of land under sustainable management practices due to the direct intervention from the ICF. It is listed under ICF Key Performance Indicator 17 in the ICF results. Sustainable management practices may include but are not limited to: soil, vegetation, water and animal management, fisheries and aquaculture practices for the marine and freshwater environment, as well as restoration practices. These sustainable management practices will vary geographically and depend on the dominant ecosystem in the region they are applied to.
Further development is needed to identify how to assess outcomes of UK overseas investment, building on existing and developing evaluation schemes for International Climate Finance, the Biodiversity Challenge Funds such as the Darwin Initiative, and other new programmes such as the Blue Planet Fund and the Biodiverse Landscape Fund. This will aim to further align the indicator with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Notes on indicator
The indicators presented here as K2a and K2b are designed to track changes related to intervention from ICF programmes. These indicators are context-specific, therefore they do not capture either positive or negative impacts on the environment outside of the specific aims of the programmes. Consequently, external impacts ranging from deforestation and ecosystem loss, to reforestation or additional sustainable land management practices, will be present but not recorded within the indicator. For observations of some of these impacts on the environment from UK consumption please see the K1 indicator.
Indicator components
Figure K2a: Area of ecosystem loss avoided due to International Climate Finance programmes, 2011/2012 to 2022/2023
Table K2a: Area of ecosystem loss avoided due to International Climate Finance programmes, 2011/2012 to 2022/2023
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2011/2012 | 1,425.00 |
| 2012/2013 | 2,850.00 |
| 2013/2014 | 6,446.00 |
| 2014/2015 | 7,646.00 |
| 2015/2016 | 17,000.00 |
| 2016/2017 | 39,000.00 |
| 2017/2018 | 49,000.00 |
| 2018/2019 | 65,000.00 |
| 2019/2020 | 317,000.00 |
| 2020/2021 | 398,000.00 |
| 2021/2022 | 399,000.00 |
| 2022/2023 | 413,000.00 |
Trend description for K2a
In the last year of data, covering the 2022/2023 financial year, there has been a 3.28% increase in the total cumulative area of land that has avoided ecosystem loss, equivalent to 13,000 hectares of land. In total between 2011 and 2023, 413,000 hectares of land have avoided ecosystem loss. The greatest level of avoided ecosystem loss occurred in the 2019/2020 financial year with approximately 252,000 hectares of additional land protected.
Assessment of change
No assessment of change was undertaken for this indicator as further development is required to present statistical trends for the cumulative nature of the datasets
Figure K2b: Cumulative area under sustainable management practices due to International Climate Finance programmes, 2015/2016 to 2022/2023
Table K2b: Cumulative area under sustainable management practices due to International Climate Finance programmes, 2015/2016 to 2022/2023
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2015/2016 | 1,975.00 |
| 2016/2017 | 231,000.00 |
| 2017/2018 | 480,000.00 |
| 2018/2019 | 803,000.00 |
| 2019/2020 | 1,220,000.00 |
| 2020/2021 | 1,810,000.00 |
| 2021/2022 | 2,115,000.00 |
| 2022/2023 | 2,700,000.00 |
Trend description for K2b
A total of 2,700,000 hectares have received sustainable management practices through ICF from 2015/2016 to 2022/2023. In the last year of data, covering the 2022/2023 financial year, there has been a 27.63% increase in the total land area (or 584,000 hectares) of land newly under sustainable management practices.
Assessment of change
No assessment of change was undertaken for this indicator as further development is required to present statistical trends for the cumulative nature of the datasets