By Sarah Tulej, 2nd October 2024
The UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are at the forefront of the world’s biodiversity and climate crises. Despite this, most people, including many UK-based environmental funders, are not aware of the UK’s responsibility for them, or that they host 94% of the nation’s biodiversity. Communities and local environmental organisations in the UKOTs receive very low levels of financial support, including only 0.03% of the total environmental giving from UK trusts and foundations. If this situation continues, we risk standing by while globally important species and habitats are lost.
This is why we at EFN, in partnership with John Ellerman Foundation, are hosting a UKOTs funder learning series across 2024. Through four events, we hope to raise awareness of the rich diversity of life and habitats present, and radically improve the system of support for the people and environmental organisations that work there.
In this blog we share insights from our second event in the series. During a panel discussion and Q&A, we learnt about the challenges environmental leaders face in sustaining effective environmental work in these incredibly unique and biodiverse areas.
Want to catch up on our first event? In July 2024 we heard from environmental leaders in St Helena and Montserrat, both volcanic and tropical islands with incredible landscapes, and rare, threatened native species. They stressed how essential it is to cultivate the next generation of conservationists through environmental education projects, while broadening awareness and skills among the wider communities they work within. You can watch the recording and/or read the blog summary.
Exploring the challenges in funding the UKOTs
At our second event in September we were joined by:
- Esther Bertram, CEO of Falklands Conservation
- Laura Shearer, Coastal Reserves Manager and elected councillor on Ascension Island
- Sarah Havery, Head of UK Overseas Territories at RSPB
Together, we explored the interrelated challenges that local environmental organisations face in accessing support, which fall under three broad themes:
- Funding gaps and securing support
- Capacity and connectedness of local environmental organisations
- Engaging a broad range of philanthropic funders
Read on for a summary of the discussion, or head here to watch the event recording.
1. Funding gaps and the challenges of securing support
A lack of diversity of funders
Sarah Havery at RSPB described the limited options for accessing funding support in the UKOTs. As the UKOTs fall under UK jurisdiction, the territories aren’t eligible for multilateral funding (e.g. via the EU or UN). Most organisations therefore rely on two major sources of UK statutory funding: the Darwin Plus Initiative and the Blue Belt Programme. Accessing funding via these programmes is competitive, and can be challenging for small organisations with limited capacity. As a result, larger grants (over £100k) often go to international NGOs with the capacity to fundraise for and administer larger projects.
A tiny fraction of funding comes from a handful of UK philanthropic funders or from private donors. This includes the collaborative UKOTs Fund, coordinated by John Ellerman Foundation.
Funding is a continual challenge for most environmental charities regardless of where they are based. For the UKOTs however, this issue is compounded by their lack of access to the diverse network of statutory and philanthropic grantmakers on the UK mainland. This makes it a struggle to build a resilient and sustainable portfolio of support.
Restrictions on funding
Funding is extremely scarce for much of the work that is essential for safeguarding nature in the UKOTs, including:
- Long-term, riskier or less ‘glamorous’ work (such as invasive plant species management)
- Core staff and operational costs of local environmental NGOs
- Policy and advocacy work
In general (in the UKOTs and beyond), most funding granted is restricted, limiting the adaptability of grantholders and preventing them from seizing opportunities when they arise.
Bringing back native seabirds to Ascension Island
Laura Shearer shared the success story of the eradication of feral cats from Ascension Island between 2002 and 2004. Feral cats had killed almost all the island’s seabirds since being introduced in the 1800s to control rodents, also invasive. The impact of this eradication was immediate – in 2004, masked boobies started returning to nest on the main island. Ten years later, the Ascension frigatebird, a key endemic species, followed suit. Now, twenty years after the eradication, there are around 2,000 pairs of Ascension frigatebirds nesting on the main island, alongside 5,000-6,000 pairs of masked boobies – an incredible result.
However, the success of the cat eradication led to a boom in the rodent population on Ascension Island, which threatens seabirds. An assessment found that removing the rats and mice would now cost around £44 million – much greater than if the eradication had been carried out back in 2002. Ascension Island and other UKOTs have an ongoing battle against invasive species and, at the moment, there is no source of funding at the scale needed.
Funding transformational work in the Falklands
While large-scale eradication programmes tend to be expensive, there are many other areas of environmental work required in the UKOTs where relatively small amounts of flexible funding can go a very long way.
Esther Bertram of Falklands Conservation explained how the funding they have received via the UKOTs Fund has enabled work to take place that otherwise would have been impossible. The funding has supported the purchase of two threatened offshore islands, and the creation of the Falklands’ first National Park which will protect two peatland mountain ranges – vital carbon sinks and conservation areas.
Just as importantly, core funding for staff has meant that Falklands Conservation has been able to do ‘behind the scenes’ work such as building relationships with the Falklands Island Government and landowners, advocating on a wide range of environmental issues and sustaining the day-to-day operations of the organisation. As mentioned above, these essential areas of work can be very difficult to fund.
2. Constrained capacity and connectedness of local organisations
Esther and Laura shared how their organisations are stretched very thinly, often being the only environmental voice in their Territories. They don’t have access to a network of local environmental actors they can turn to for peer support, partnership work or collective fundraising efforts. Nor are they well-linked to UK-based environmental NGOs and funders.
There is also a lack of connection between local environmental organisations based in different UKOTs, limiting collaboration and information sharing very difficult. Instead, organisations tend to rely on a small number of large UK-based or international NGOs to access support, including technical expertise, administration of projects and fundraising.
Isolation from networks, training and skills
Laura Shearer noted that, as a small island with a population of only 800 people, Ascension Island can sometimes struggle to get its voice heard. She believes that a more connected, collaborative network of UKOT environmental practitioners could help address the isolation experienced by organisations like hers, and amplify the important conservation work happening across these remote but biodiversity-rich places.
Laura also shared how hard it is for organisations to recruit skilled people and to offer a career path to people living in the Territories. Rarely do younger people have access to environmental education and training in conservation. And, because places such as Ascension Island, St Helena and the Falkland Islands are geographically remote and the pay is lower, it’s also difficult to attract people with expertise from abroad to come and do vital environmental work.
Cultivating local conservation leadership
Sarah Havery highlighted the RSPB’s work in supporting the creation of a dedicated Head of Conservation role within the St Helena National Trust, initially funded through a grant from John Ellerman Foundation’s UKOTs Fund. The person hired for the Head of Conservation role was from St Helena herself and has developed ambitious ideas to benefit her home country.
Having this role enabled the National Trust to grow, by freeing up the Trust’s Director to focus on higher-level strategy, direction, and engagement with the local government. The role has become a cornerstone of the National Trust’s operations, ensuring local leadership and continuity in their critical conservation efforts.
You can hear from the Director of the St Helena National Trust in the recording and blog summary of our first event. Also see this fantastic video from UKOTs Fund recipient Blue Marine Foundation about training local ocean stewards in St Helena.
3. Engaging a wider range of philanthropic funders
Relatively few environmental funders have an in-depth knowledge of the UKOTs and their huge ecological importance. As a result, there is limited awareness of the urgent funding needs. Where funders are aware of the UKOTs, domestic funders assume that they are supported by international funders, and international funders see the UKOTs as the responsibility of UK funders. The UKOTs, with all their natural wealth and dedicated conservationists, fall between – meaning that vital environmental work is overlooked and under-resourced.
More creative and flexible approaches to funding
Sufina Ahmad, Director of John Ellerman Foundation, highlighted the success of the UKOTs Fund in providing flexible, responsive support to environmental projects, showcasing the value of funders collaborating effectively. She stressed the importance of funders exploring the opportunities to support work in the UKOTs, pointing out that organisations like the John Ellerman Foundation and RSPB already have the expertise and experience to guide new funders, addressing any concerns about the complexities of funding beyond the UK mainland. Furthermore, she noted that relatively small grants can help UKOTs organisations unlock significant additional funding, ensuring their long-term sustainability.
Creative solutions to protect and restore nature
Local conservationists are undertaking inspiring work with limited resources, managing invasive species, restoring habitats and protecting endangered species. However, a lack of funding, particularly long-term, flexible funding, and a lack of capacity and connectedness in local NGOs, severely threatens these efforts and puts unique ecosystems and species at even greater risk.
There is a pressing need for increased awareness of, and investment in, environmental work in the UKOTs’. Philanthropic funders, who may not yet be familiar with the ecological importance of these territories, have the opportunity to make a significant impact. Relatively modest investments can save unique habitats, prevent global extinctions, transform local capacity and support legislative change.
At our next event on Monday 14 October, we’ll hear about ways in which environmental NGOs, funders and other organisations are innovating in response to the challenges of safeguarding nature in the UKOTs and beyond. We would love for you to join us.
Sign up by filling in this simple form. All event details will be emailed to you directly. The learning series is free and open to all funders interested in the UKOTs.
About Authors
Written by Sarah Tulej with support from James Tristan Goodman and Sophia Cooke, EFN, as part of our UKOTs learning series.