WASHINGTON, September 27 — The cancellation of more than 5,200 U.S. foreign assistance contracts has stalled conservation work across fragile ecosystems and left at least 100 high-priority projects hunting for emergency funding, according to a 166-page report released by One Earth Partners, a consultancy founded by two former senior USAID environmental officials, Monica Bansal and Hadas Kushnir. The report, titled Beyond the Funding Gap, describes the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development under the Trump administration as a rupture that no other donor has moved to fill.
Only 1.1% of surveyed organizations reported finding a replacement donor. Nearly half — 49.1% — have received no replacement funding at all.
That gap is not only financial. USAID functioned as an anchor that drew co-investment from multilateral banks and other governments, the report says. With the agency gone, that convening power went with it, and no alternative major donor has stepped in.
Illicit activity rises where oversight vanished
Partner countries have seen an immediate surge in illegal logging, poaching and unregulated resource extraction, according to the report. The mechanism is straightforward: USAID’s operational oversight and on-the-ground presence disappeared, and with it the deterrent that kept such activity in check. Local government officials, meanwhile, lost the diplomatic and technical backing they relied on to push difficult environmental reforms through.
The report points to immediate backsliding on environmental standards and transparency. Decades of institutional knowledge vanished overnight.
The closure also cut off access to digital libraries, satellite tracking resources and data clearinghouse websites that civil society groups used to monitor deforestation and climate impacts — tools that cannot be rebuilt quickly or cheaply.
Clean energy pipeline loses its technical base
USAID historically dedicated hundreds of millions of dollars toward technical, market-oriented work to build clean energy grids in Africa and Southeast Asia. According to energy experts cited in the report, the technical capacity to hold clean energy auctions and build solvent utility companies has effectively vanished. Local environmental NGOs are fundamentally weaker.
The agency did not just provide capital; it provided the training and infrastructure that allowed localized groups to push back against polluting industries. International policy analysts note a further consequence.
The complete exit of USAID has eliminated critical on-the-ground intelligence and soft-power goodwill, weakening collaborative international climate pacts. The report was published by One Earth Partners. What to watch next is whether any multilateral bank or national donor steps into the space USAID vacated — and whether the stranded projects find emergency funding before the next logging or poaching season opens.
