From Climate Fund Cuts to Coral Collapse: The Cost of Undermining Marine NGOs

By Paige Blanton

ENST 432 Environment and Governance: Sustainable Development in the Philippines

B.S. in Environmental Studies '27

Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, USC

U.S. Climate Funding Cuts and Global Consequences

In February, President Donald Trump cut funding to the Green Climate Fund, a United Nations-organized program to help countries respond to climate change, and the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, which is intended to provide financial support to countries impacted by climate change. This loss of funding has gutted foreign governments and organizations of their ability to adequately address climate change's stressors.

Total pledges to the Green Climate Fund from the biggest contributors, covering the three replenishment periods of 2014, 2019 and 2023. Outstanding US pledges that have now been cancelled are indicated by the hatched area in the red column. Source: Carbon Brief

The Green Climate Fund assists 197 countries with implementing mitigation strategies and adaptive measures in an affordable way (1). Without this funding, those countries will struggle to fight climate change, many of which have contributed little to global emissions. The Loss and Damage Fund provides grant-based financial support to countries in need, creating an outlet for low-income countries to combat climate change (2).

The United States of America played a key role in funding these programs. However, since President Trump rescinded funding, the many countries that relied on the Green Climate Fund and Loss and Damage Fund will struggle to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations, or environmental NGOs, are particularly impacted by the loss of funding as they are among the most active groups in climate action. Without the help of NGOs across the globe, the Earth will continue to be pushed towards its carrying capacity, endangering the health and stability of all organisms and ecosystems.

NGOs across the world have been raising awareness of climate change and taking action against its effects on all ecosystems. However, in the Philippines, the ocean plays a particularly significant role in the health of the country, and project funding is crucial.

CCEF and Coral Reef Restoration

As a tropical climate in Southeast Asia, the Philippines’ coast is particularly susceptible to climate change. A study on climate change and its impact on the Philippines revealed an “assessment of 206 fringing reefs in the country reveals that a third of their hard-coral cover is damaged, and none is in excellent condition” (3). Weak coral reefs could mean a decrease in fish population due to habitat degradation, a reduction in ecotourism, and much more.

To combat this, the Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation (CCEF) in Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines, has been taking steps to restore its coastline in the face of climate change. CCEF is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the health of the Philippines and the planet through coastal conservation. The realities of the dire conditions of coral reefs have made their restoration a top project for CCEF. However, a loss of funding has jeopardized their ability to complete their goals and adequately address environmental degradation, their reef restoration project being one of them.

An example of the rrreefs coral restoration project - coral larvae grow off the clay structures, mimicking a reef. Photo: rrreefs

CCEF has been working to save coral reefs since the 1980s (4). More recently, the foundation has implemented a Swiss-based reef restoration project, rrreefs, along the coastline. Rrreefs, a coral reef restoration project founded by an all-women team of scholars, strives to combat the effects of climate change on the ocean's reefs through 3-D printing a clay modular system that is placed in the sea where reefs once were, providing a structure for coral larvae to attach to and regrow (5).

Reef restoration projects such as these are expensive but crucial to the ocean's health and the world. However, essential programs like Rrreefs are often costly. There are many variables in the cost of coral restoration projects, depending on the amount of land cover, method, and many other factors. However, a study found that a coral restoration project can cost between $150,000 and $400,000 per hectare (6). That is 8,367,900.00 to 22,314,400.00 Filipino Pesos. This investment can become extremely expensive to NGOs like CCEF, making global and national climate funding essential in supporting the fight against climate change for the betterment of us all.

Why Coral Reefs Matter, and What’s at Stake

As a tropical archipelago, the Philippines is particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Coral reefs are essential to the country's ecological and economic structure. Coral reefs provide not only habitats for aquatic organisms like fish, increasing the biodiversity and resilience of the ecosystem, but also offer food to coastal communities, create jobs through tourism and recreational activities, protect communities from storm surges, and much more (7).

It would be a mistake not to acknowledge the effect humans have had on the health of the ocean. Pollution has exacerbated the effects of climate change, causing a rapid increase in ocean acidification and coral bleaching, damaging one of the world’s most important resources. We have played a role in their destruction and now must be part of the solution. CCEF and marine NGOs need support to continue fighting the battle against climate change for the betterment of us all. It is necessary to maintain the momentum of funding local, state, national, and international projects to combat environmental degradation from the ocean to the mountains. Together, we can reach a more sustainable future.

References

1. “Areas of work.” n.d. Green Climate Fund. Accessed June 7, 2025. https://www.greenclimate.fund/areas.

2. “Fund for responding to Loss and Damage.” n.d. United Nations. Accessed June 7, 2025. https://unfccc.int/loss-and-damage-fund-joint-interim-secretariat.

3. Liu, Jen-Ming, Elaine Q. Borazon, and Kyrie E. Muñoz. 2021. “Critical problems associated with climate change: a systematic review and meta-analysis of Philippine fisheries research.” Environmental Science and Pollution Research 28 (36): 49425–49433. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8330821/.

4. “Saving Philippine Reefs.” 2018. CCEF. https://www.coast.ph/ccef-projects/sustaining-coasts/11/saving-philippine-reefs/.

5. “Reef Builders Workshop.” n.d. Rrreefs. Accessed June 7, 2025. https://www.rrreefs.com/reef-builders-workshop/.

6. Bayraktarov, Elisa, Megan I. Saunders, Sabah Abdullah, Morena Mills, Jutta Beher, Hugh P. Possingham, Peter J. Mumby, and Catherine E. Lovelock. 2015. “The cost and feasibility of marine coastal restoration.” Ecological Applications 26 (4): 1055-1074. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-1077.

7. “Corals Tutorial: Why are coral reefs important?” 2024. NOAA's National Ocean Service. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_corals/coral07_importance.html.