Uganda tree-planting scheme loses Welsh government funding

The Welsh government will end funding for a tree-planting scheme in Uganda that was branded "woke" by opposition politicians.

Wales has given more than £4m to climate change charity Size of Wales since 2015, including £350,000 for the current financial year, to work with Indigenous communities to promote tree-planting in the African nation.

Ministers said budgetary pressures meant "difficult decisions" had to be made and the charity would lose its grant for the scheme at the end of March 2027.

Right-wing parties in the Senedd welcomed the decision, and left-wing ones criticised it, with the Welsh Liberal Democrats accusing the Plaid Cymru-run government of "out-Reforming Reform".

Size of Wales works with Indigenous and local people worldwide to grow trees and protect at least two million hectares of tropical forests - an area the size of Wales.

Previous Welsh governments under Labour had started funding its work, which included the tree-planting scheme around Mbale in the Mount Elgon region of eastern Uganda, with 25 million trees planted as of 2025.

Previous criticism by opponents of using taxpayers' money for the scheme led to Labour ministers last year pointing out that it amounted to about £270,000 a year - equivalent to 0.001% of the government's total annual budget in 2025.

A document published in August 2025 by the previous government stated Wales was "helping some of the very poorest people in the world adapt to climate change and improve their livelihoods" and protected local people in the Mount Elgon region from deadly landslides.

Plaid took over the Welsh government in May , with the decision to end the tree-planting scheme coming as it prepares to publish its draft budget for 2026-27 later this month.

A Welsh government spokesperson said it was developing "a new international strategy for Wales" and was "working to ensure that future investment demonstrates impact and value for money and delivers clear benefits for Wales as well as our international partners".

"We do not intend to renew grant funding for the Size of Wales Mbale tree-planting programme beyond its current end date of 31 March 2027," they said.

"That is not a judgement on the quality of the work. The programme has planted millions of trees and built important links between Wales and Uganda, and we look forward to continuing our dialogue with Size of Wales."

The spokesperson said that recognising the success of a programme "is not the same as committing to fund the same delivery model indefinitely", and the government had to "make difficult choices about where limited resources can have the greatest impact".

They added: "We will never retreat from Wales being an outward-looking and globally responsible nation."

The tree-planting scheme has long been criticised by Reform UK and Welsh Conservative politicians in the Senedd.

Reform UK's leader in Wales, Helen Jenner, welcomed the announcement and said her party had been calling "for an end to this ridiculous woke spending for years now".

"We have changed the conversation in Cardiff Bay and demanded that Welsh taxpayers' money be spent in Wales and not sent abroad for things like Ugandan trees," she said.

"Now, thanks to us, Welsh households will not be funding those trees."

The leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd Darren Millar said the decision was "long overdue but it is better late than never".

"It's outrageous that the Welsh government has been spending so much taxpayers' money on planting trees in Africa while our schools and hospitals have not been getting the cash they need," he said.

"It has no responsibility for foreign affairs or international development, so every pound spent on these things is a pound that is being taken away from our NHS, our education system and helping the Welsh economy.

"The Welsh government should put the people of Wales first, not vanity projects overseas."

But the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds described it as a "short-sighted" decision.

"Tackling climate change and protecting nature isn't a luxury," she said.

"Size of Wales has planted millions of trees, built real links between Wales and Uganda, and helped communities protect forests that matter to all of us.

"Plaid are out-Reforming Reform by cutting international funding for work ministers admit has been a success.

"Wales' global responsibility shouldn't be the first thing to go."

Welsh Labour leader Ken Skates said: "In opposition, Plaid Cymru repeatedly championed international programmes.

"Yet again, it seems that what Plaid say is very different to what they actually do."

The Welsh government also provides a grant of £280,000 a year to the charity to deliver an education programme in Welsh schools, which runs until the end of March 2027, with a proposal for the future of the programme to be submitted and considered by the country's rural resilience and sustainability minister.

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