Why It Matters

The administration's fiscal 2027 budget request proposes eliminating funding for a range of international conservation programs and does not specify funding levels for several others, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) Insight published Sept. 30.

The request sets funding at $0 for the Treasury Department's Global Environment Facility (GEF) contribution, enacted at $150.2 million in each of the four prior fiscal years, and proposes $0 for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Multinational Species Conservation Fund, the FWS Neotropical Migratory Bird Fund, the U.S. Forest Service International Program and the Sustainable Landscapes Program.

For several of the largest enacted fiscal 2026 line items, including $274.3 million for State Department international biodiversity programs and $131.8 million for land use, management and protection, the fiscal 2027 request is listed as "n/a," meaning funding was neither reported in law nor specified in a budget justification.

Congress enacted appropriations for most of these programs as recently as fiscal 2026, making the fiscal 2027 appropriations process a direct decision point for lawmakers on whether to accept, reject, or modify the proposed reductions and to fund programs without specified request levels.

The Big Picture

The CRS report tracks selected international conservation funding across agencies from fiscal 2023 through the administration's fiscal 2027 budget request, covering programs administered by the FWS, the Departments of State and the Treasury, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Forest Service.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was dismantled and ceased operations in July 2025, with some programs and activities transferred to the State Department. The report cautions that its figures do not reflect any potential rescissions, reallocations, or program dissolutions.

Several programs saw enacted funding decline between fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2026 before the fiscal 2027 request was submitted. State's international wildlife poaching and trafficking programs fell from $175 million, $50 million for International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement, and not less than $125 million for other accounts, in fiscal 2023 to $89.1 million in fiscal 2026, while the Sustainable Landscapes Program dropped from $185 million in fiscal 2023 to $0 in fiscal 2026.

The FWS International Affairs Program would fall from $28.6 million to $20.5 million under the fiscal 2027 request, with the International Wildlife Trade Subprogram dropping from $18.7 million to $13 million and the International Conservation Subprogram from $9.9 million to $7.5 million.

The report also notes a statutory renaming: the foundation authorized under P.L. 118-159 as the Foundation for International Conservation was renamed the U.S. Foundation for National Security and Counterterrorism under P.L. 119-75. It received $100 million in fiscal 2024, $0 in fiscal 2025, and $100 million in fiscal 2026, and the administration requests $0 for fiscal 2027.

The Bottom Line

The CRS report does not characterize the administration's request as a policy rationale. What remains unresolved is whether Congress will restore funding for programs such as the GEF contribution and the Multinational Species Conservation Fund, and what funding it will provide for programs for which the administration did not specify a request level.

The transfer of some former USAID conservation activities to the State Department also raises questions about program continuity because the report does not provide a complete fiscal 2027 funding breakdown for all transferred activities.

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