A celebration for the St Helena Cloud Forest Project was held at the Speaker's House State Rooms in the Palace of Westminster, London, on April 7, 2025. The project, known as SHCFP, has recently benefited from four years of funding through the UK Government's Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, along with contributions from Darwin Plus funding provided by the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The event was attended by over 75 individuals, including UK parliamentarians, partners of the St Helena Cloud Forest Project, and St Helenian students currently studying in the UK. Representatives from the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs were also present.
Speakers at the reception included the Speaker of the House of Commons, Rt Hon. Sir Lindsay Hoyle, and officials involved in the project such as St Helena Government’s Environment Minister Christine Scipio, Sarah Hulton from the FCDO, opposition spokesperson Andrew Rosindell MP, and Katie-Jo Luxton from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Sarah Hulton revealed that the FCDO’s Overseas Territories Climate Security Programme will offer a one-year grant to maintain the project's initiatives while searching for alternative funding sources. The project since 2021 has focused on restoring habitats, monitoring climate and water, and improving infrastructure, with the aim of securing the cloud forest's habitat critical for St Helena's water, wildlife, and community.
The event, hosted by Speaker Hoyle, was sponsored by MPs Andrew Rosindell and Will Stone. Organizers expressed their gratitude to the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and Defra for their support.
For more information on the SHCFP, please visit the project's website.
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