Enviro News Asia, Belém — A groundbreaking global initiative to finance the permanent protection of tropical forests was officially launched at the COP30 Leaders’ Summit in Belém, marking a historic step in environmental finance and multilateral cooperation. Hosted by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the high-level event introduced the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) and gathered leaders from more than 30 countries, including the UN Secretary-General and a World Bank representative.
The Launch Declaration, endorsed by 53 countries, including 34 tropical forest nations covering over 90% of tropical forests in developing countries such as Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and China, outlines a new mechanism to reward nations for conserving standing forests rather than allowing their destruction.
So far, over USD 5.5 billion in commitments have been pledged: Norway announced USD 3 billion over ten years, Brazil and Indonesia reaffirmed USD 1 billion each, Portugal pledged USD 1 million, and France indicated conditional support of up to EUR 500 million by 2030. The Netherlands committed USD 5 million for the TFFF Secretariat, while Germany expressed full support, with final financial commitments to be discussed between President Lula and Chancellor Merz.
The TFFF represents a paradigm shift in global forest conservation, creating a new financial architecture that recognizes and pays for the ecosystem services provided by tropical forests. Payments to countries will be based on satellite remote-sensing data that monitors forest canopy cover annually, ensuring transparency and low operational costs.
In his opening remarks, President Lula stated:
“The Tropical Forest Forever Facility we are launching today is an unprecedented initiative. For the first time in history, countries of the Global South will take a leading role in a forest agenda. It is symbolic that this milestone takes place here in Belém, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.”
Marina Silva, Brazil’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, called it “a turning point in tropical forest conservation,” while Finance Minister Fernando Haddad emphasized its role as “an unprecedented innovation in international financial architecture, mobilizing sovereign and private capital for long-term conservation.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Mauro Vieira underlined that the TFFF’s governance ensures equal representation between forest and sponsor countries, with at least 20% of funds allocated directly to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) — a point echoed by Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara, who hailed the recognition of “ancestral knowledge and guardianship of forests” as a historic achievement.
Supporting the initiative, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre stated:
“It is vital to stop deforestation to reduce climate impacts and biodiversity loss. The new Tropical Forest Forever Facility provides the long-term funding needed to protect the world’s tropical forests.”
The World Bank will serve as the trustee and interim host of the Facility, with the next phase focusing on the creation of the Tropical Forest Investment Fund (TFIF) to operationalize the mechanism. The TFFF aims to mobilize up to USD 125 billion in the medium term, combining USD 25 billion in sovereign capital and USD 100 billion from institutional investors.
According to UNEP, global forest protection and restoration require more than USD 66.7 billion annually. The TFFF fills a critical gap by complementing existing climate finance instruments and rewarding nations for maintaining and restoring forest cover.
Led by Brazil in collaboration with DRC, Ghana, Malaysia, Indonesia, Colombia, the UK, Germany, Norway, France, and the UAE, and supported by Indigenous and local community input, the TFFF ensures that investments exclude environmentally harmful industries such as coal, peat, oil, and gas.
In total, the TFFF has the potential to support the protection of more than one billion hectares of tropical forests across 70 developing nations — symbolizing a new global alliance for climate resilience, biodiversity protection, and sustainable development. (*)
