Critical Perspectives on the Future US Role in Global Conservation

What should the future U.S. role in global conservation look like, and whose experience and ideas should shape it? The biodiversity funding landscape changed dramatically in 2025 as the USG abruptly abandoned its international conservation commitments. The loss of approximately $500 million in annual U.S. international conservation funding, along with decades of government capacity and expertise, disrupted conservation efforts around the world. This moment demands more than restoring the former system. It creates an opportunity to examine it critically: what worked, what did not, whose perspectives carried weight, and what must change to build a more effective and durable approach. Hosted by Reimagining Global Conservation, this event will bring together international and locally rooted conservation practitioners, policy experts, funders, and other Climate Week participants. One Earth Partners will present findings from Beyond the Funding Gap, its global assessment of USAID’s distinctive role in climate and environmental programming, the structural effects of its 2025 withdrawal, and priorities for future U.S. engagement. A diverse panel of practitioners will then offer locally-grounded perspectives on the future U.S. role, including concrete reforms, institutional changes, and practical proposals for a new global conservation playbook. The session will create space for participants to question familiar assumptions and contribute ideas grounded in their own experience. Biodiversity conservation is inseparable from resilience, livelihoods, stability, and security. Join us for a candid, nonpartisan conversation about how the United States can learn from the past and engage differently in the future.