Abu Dhabi: The UK Government today announced long-term funding of GBP 16.9 million for the Accelerating Innovative Monitoring for Forests (AIM4Forests) programme of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). AIM4Forests is a flagship partnership between FAO and the United Kingdom that supports countries in strengthening forest monitoring and reporting based on modern technologies, data transparency, and technical innovation.
According to EMM, the announcement came at an event convened by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Climate High-Level Champions at the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30). This commitment increases the United Kingdom’s total contribution to GBP 48.4 million. The additional support follows AIM4Forests’ A+ performance rating in both 2023 and 2024 independent annual reviews, reflecting its impact and effectiveness in helping countries monitor, protect, and restore forests and ecosystems, as well as measuring and reporting emissions reductions.
“We welcome the UK’s continued support for AIM4Forests, which brings technology, innovation, and people together to drive concrete change, turning data into decisions and empowering countries and communities to take meaningful steps toward forest restoration and a sustainable future,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu.
UK Climate Minister Katie White emphasized the importance of the initiative, stating: “Tackling deforestation is essential for protecting our planet, and AIM4Forests is providing a route for communities to access cutting-edge technology and data to halt and reverse forest loss. We are determined to put a stop to millions of hectares of forest being lost every year, which is why at COP30, we’re pleased to announce that the UK is extending our support for AIM4Forests – driving innovation and building on our efforts to protect forests worldwide.”
Launched in 2023, AIM4Forests collaborates with governments, Indigenous Peoples, and youth to promote inclusive and equitable approaches to forest monitoring, data, and decision-making. The programme focuses on using open data and geospatial innovation under the Open Foris Initiative to improve transparency and accountability for national and international processes.
To date, AIM4Forests has supported 19 countries, including Bolivia, Brazil, and Indonesia, to strengthen capacities and skills for forest monitoring. It has trained over 3,500 individuals, 40 percent of whom are Indigenous Peoples, and launched nine new products and technical solutions, including Open Foris Ground and Whisp, which help Indigenous Peoples and smallholder farmers produce forest monitoring information and support compliance with deforestation regulations.
Jointly developed by FAO and the UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, AIM4Forests has expanded to include initiatives like AIM4NatuRe and AIM4Commodities. AIM4NatuRe widens the scope to all ecosystems to provide a holistic approach to nature restoration monitoring, while AIM4Commodities promotes more sustainable and transparent supply chains connecting science, data, and policy to deliver impact and measurable results.
The funding announcement aligns with an additional EUR 1 million contribution from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ, the German Agency for International Cooperation) to FAO’s AIM4Commodities initiative. This marks an expanded partnership between FAO, the United Kingdom, and Germany under AIM4Forests in promoting transparency and innovation across global commodity value chains, bringing the total GIZ contribution to USD $2.7 million.
AIM4Forests has also contributed significantly to the eligibility and monitoring criteria of the COP30 flagship initiative launched by the Brazilian COP30 Presidency at the COP30 Leaders Summit, the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, reinforcing the role of robust and transparent data from national forest monitoring systems.