British funding cuts bring Bangladesh climate resilience project to an early end: report

A UK-funded climate adaptation project in Bangladesh’s Sundarbans is being shut down two years early after major cuts to Britain’s foreign aid budget.

According to a report by The Independent, international development charity Practical Action has been instructed to end the resilience project in September.

Launched in 2023 in Bangladesh’s Sundarbans, the world’s largest tidal mangrove delta, the initiative aimed to help marginalised communities cope with growing threats from sea-level rise, coastal erosion and saltwater intrusion.

The early closure comes amid wider cuts by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the British newspaper reported.

Official figures show bilateral aid to Bangladesh will fall by more than half, from £66.7 million in 2025-26 to £31 million in 2026-27.

The UK’s overall aid budget is also being cut from 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent of gross national income (GNI).

Practical Action’s Sundarbans project was originally allocated £2.2 million to support 57,000 people through sustainable livelihoods and clean-water initiatives.

Funding shortfalls mean it will reach only 37,000 people before closing, The Independent reported.

Tamanna Rahman, climate resilience lead at Practical Action Bangladesh, told the newspaper that the abrupt decision had severely disrupted local plans.

She said the two to three months’ notice had left the charity little time to arrange a structured handover to local government authorities, raising concerns about the sustainability of the work.

Aid experts and development advocacy groups have criticised the cuts.

Romily Greenhill, chief executive of UK charity network Bond, told The Independent that the Labour government’s aid cuts were “short-sighted”, warning that withdrawing resources from frontline adaptation projects could cut off vital support for communities already facing the impacts of climate change.