Our Forest Trends team spent the past few weeks navigating the implications of a stop-work order issued January 24th by the United States Department of State on nearly all foreign assistance. This halted work on a major project on water security in Peru, work combatting trade in illegal timber and commodities, as well as a project helping developing countries harness market-based mechanisms in their climate strategies. While all foreign aid funded through the Department of State and the US Agency for International Development is frozen pending an evaluation to ensure funds are being spent in ways that align with President Trump’s foreign policies, we have confidence that they, like we, will come to the conclusion that reducing conflicts over natural resources and ending illegal activities is smart policy.
Here’s why. In his January 15, 2025 opening remarks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Marco Rubio put it this way:
“Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, every policy we pursue must be justified by the answer to one of three questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?”
One of the most effective ways to answer all three of these questions with a resounding yes is to recalibrate markets to respect nature’s real value. In many parts of the world, we are taking resources from the planet faster than they can be replenished, putting economies on a dead-end path and increasing conflicts over scarce resources. We can use American aid dollars to change how economies interact with nature—whether our water use, the way we grow our food, or our relationship with wildfire. Not only is this aid core to the American ethos of caring about others in need, but this new normal would also create significant benefits that Secretary Rubio wants to see.
As a team working on forest conservation and sustainable resource management to benefit local communities around the world, some underestimate the power of foreign aid to achieve all of these things. There’s a persistent idea that aid is solely charity rather than an investment with a high return. But our experience on the ground shows how smart foreign assistance serves as a powerful tool that unquestionably makes America, and the world for that matter, safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
The tools we use – an emphasis on cost-effective nature-based solutions; public-private partnerships; market-based approaches to environmental problems; a focus on building resilient and self-sufficient local communities – have proven to serve multiple US interests while empowering local communities. Here is what we have learned that is highly applicable now.
At the most basic level, Forest Trends programs help families in rural areas develop sustainable livelihoods tied to keeping forests and landscapes healthy. This gives these communities an economically sustainable future, mitigating the need to migrate. Forest Trends is, by design, a small organization. We focus on building strong, local partnerships that can sustain themselves for the long term. This localization approach – putting local communities in the driver’s seat – creates lasting solutions and more resilient communities because people become invested in conservation and sustainability when it benefits them.
Here’s where it gets interesting from a foreign policy perspective: when rural families can make a good living from protecting natural resources, they become far less vulnerable to criminal organizations involved in illegal logging or other illicit activities.
By the same token, when we crack down on illegal trade in timber and other commodities, we remove a major income source for criminal enterprises. We’ve seen how this directly supports US security interests by reducing instability and supporting peacebuilding in strategically important regions, such as Latin America.
We have also long championed market-based financial incentives for conservation, through carbon markets, payments for ecosystem services, and sustainable supply chain initiatives. These tools offer a carrot to the stick of cracking down on illegal trade. And markets are innovative; over the last 25 years, we’ve seen that when you get the incentive structure right, you unlock a flood of new ways to make sustainable natural resource management more effective, more efficient, and economically fruitful.
The data we collect backs this up. Our work tracking illegal timber trade shows how criminal networks threatening both environmental and national security can be disrupted through supply chain transparency and accountability. When companies and governments ensure legal, sustainable timber sourcing, it supports rule of law while protecting American businesses from unfair competition.
Our work on water risk illustrates another key point about stability. When we help communities cooperate to protect shared water resources through improved governance, local capacity, and market mechanisms like water funds, it reduces risks of competition and conflict over increasingly scarce supplies. This matters because water scarcity is a growing driver of instability in many regions, leading to forced migration and conflict.
These market-like approaches also leverage USAID investments, multiplying taxpayer dollars’ impact by catalyzing private sector investment. An initial $52M joint investments by USAID and the Government of Canada in Peru has resulted in a roughly $400M+ water security project pipeline being paid for by Peruvian water users, public disaster risk mitigation funds, and private companies. This work represents market transformation – the opposite of creating endless aid dependency.
Indigenous and local communities are crucial partners in our work. We’ve seen time and again that when given proper rights and economic opportunities, they are often the most effective forest guardians. Creating mechanisms for these communities to benefit economically from conservation helps preserve both crucial ecosystems and traditional ways of life.
Looking ahead, we believe these market-based approaches will become even more important as we seek to mobilize private capital to address issues like water shortages and stress, forest fires, and loss of biodiversity. Building the infrastructure for innovative, legal, and fair markets helps channel private investment toward solutions that benefit both local communities and global stability. This meets America’s priority of having fewer conflicts to manage, and it creates stronger global partnerships. It’s also aligned with our country’s moral identity.
For American companies we work with, these programs help ensure sustainable, legal supply chains for forest products while demonstrating business and environmental leadership, as consumers and investors increasingly demand sustainability.
The bottom line we’ve learned from our work: smart foreign aid focused on putting an economic engine between conservation and ecological restoration delivers multiple benefits that serve US interests. By empowering local communities, strengthening legal markets, and creating sustainable economic opportunities, we help build the kind of stable, prosperous world that makes America safer and stronger.
Viewpoints showcases expert analysis and commentary from the Forest Trends team.
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