Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2023 to Question 5523 on Democratic Republic of Congo: Conservation, what the formal mechanism for applications to receive funding from the Forest Governance, Markets and Climate programme is; and whether further funding will be made available for that programme.

We remain committed to delivering on the $1.5 billion multi-donor Congo Basin Pledge made at COP26. Forest Governance, Markets and Climate (FGMC) programme has supported projects on forest governance, legality, transparency and rights in the Congo Basin through a number of grants to leading non-governmental organisations. FGMC intends to launch a new competitive grants programme that will support actions of civil society organisations across the congo basin, subject to Ministerial approval of the programme's new business case in 2024. Details of the application process for these grants will be made public at the time of the launch.