How the UK Can Stop Driving Deforestation

Cool Earth demands immediate action to stop deforestation impacting national security.

Latest: The UK government’s 2025 national security assessment sent a clear warning: global deforestation isn’t only an environmental issue, it’s a risk to UK security.

We’ve been saying for years that forest loss drives climate change, destabilises economies, worsens the cost of living, and threatens food and water supplies, last week that was confirmed: what happens in the Amazon, Congo Basin, or Southeast Asia has ripple effects that reach right to the UK.

Deforestation in the Amazon and other rainforests will effect us here in the uk, report shows. Including increasing food prices.

The Forest Coalition Letter to GovernmentThe Forest Coalition Letter to Government

In response, Cool Earth, alongside the rest of the NGO Forest Coalition, a network of UK organisations campaigning to protect forests and the people who depend on them, has written to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The letter urges the UK Government, businesses and investors to:

Stop the UK from contributing to forest loss worldwide
Make rules so UK products don’t come from destroying forests
Make sure banks and investors aren’t funding forest destruction

Cool Earth is proud to be a signatory, standing alongside Friends of the Earth, Global Witness,, WWF and others. By signing, we help amplify the voices of rainforest communities at the highest levels of government.

this report warns of the dangers of continued deforestation. Deforestation and the human rights abuses to Indigenous and local communities that go with this extractive industry must stop. The government needs to take action.

Why this matters

At Cool Earth, we back the Indigenous and local communities who live in forests. When they have authority and resources, forest loss falls and livelihoods are protected. But communities can’t do it alone. That’s why we’re pushing governments, investors and businesses to adopt stronger deforestation policies, so UK supply chains and finance stop driving forest destruction in the first place. We need both: communities empowered on the ground, and systems changed at the top.

The urgency is clear

The Forest Coalition letter highlights the costs of delay. Deforestation isn’t just a climate issue, it’s a human rights issue, an economic issue, and a security issue. Loopholes that allow ‘legal’ deforestation, gaps in financial regulations, and slow government action put forests and communities at risk, and now the report confirms that everyone in the UK is at risk too.

A call to action

For almost 20 years we have stood for policies that respect people, protect forests, and deliver measurable results. And we will continue to do so, louder and firmer than ever before.

Deforestation isn’t someone else’s problem, the report has clearly shown it’s everyone’s. Together, with communities, coalitions, and governments ready to listen, we can push for a world where forests and people thrive side by side.