UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy spoke at a COP29 event focused on supporting the role of indigenous people and local communities in protecting nature, including forests.

Lammy expressed his honor in attending COP29 as the first foreign secretary from the Labour Party since it came to power after 14 years. He highlighted the alarming rate of deforestation and noted that less than 1% of all climate funding last year went toward forest protection.

"A significant portion of this funding was allocated to governments and NGOs," Lammy said, adding that from 2012 to 2022, around 2,000 land and environmental defenders—most of them indigenous—were killed.