Conservation crisis deepens as trump administration cuts funding: why linking nature protection to human health could be the solution

The global conservation movement is in crisis, struggling with severe funding cuts, weakening government support, and widespread misinformation campaigns. A major contributor to this decline is the public’s limited understanding of how nature directly impacts their daily lives—from ensuring clean water and food security to protecting communities from extreme weather and disease outbreaks.

According to the World Economic Forum’s 2025 global risk assessment, five of the top ten long-term threats facing humanity are environmental, including extreme weather, biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, and pollution. Despite these mounting risks, biodiversity conservation remains dramatically underfunded compared to its critical value for human survival and prosperity.

The crisis has intensified with recent political changes. The Trump administration has shut down nearly all USAID biodiversity programs in early 2025, eliminating hundreds of millions in annual funding that supported forest conservation, sustainable fisheries, and community-based conservation enterprises worldwide. Just two years ago, USAID invested over $385 million in biodiversity programs, following the agency’s long-held principle that “conservation is development.”

Conservation advocates argue that reframing environmental protection around human well-being—rather than focusing solely on wildlife preservation—could help rebuild public and political support. By highlighting how healthy ecosystems provide essential services like water filtration, climate regulation, and disease prevention, conservationists hope to demonstrate that protecting nature isn’t just an environmental luxury, but a fundamental requirement for human health, economic stability, and national security.