Tropical Forest Forever Facility
{{Short description|Forest conservation sovereign investment institution}}
The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) is a proposed blended-finance mechanism to incentivise countries to prevent the deforestation and degradation of moist broadleaf forests.
The fund would use profits from capital market investments to provide results-based payments to rainforest countries.{{Cite news |last=Andreoni |first=Manuela |date=2024-10-03 |title=An ‘Elegant’ Idea Could Pay Billions to Protect Trees |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/03/climate/brazil-climate-fund-trees.html |access-date=2025-04-01 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} The mechanism was proposed by the Brazilian government{{Cite web |last=Chase-Lubitz |first=Jesse |date=2024-12-19 |title=How did Brazil slash deforestation — and can others recreate the win? |url=https://www.devex.com/news/how-did-brazil-slash-deforestation-and-can-others-recreate-the-win-108871 |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=Devex |language=en}} with the aim of launching the facility at COP30 in Belem, Brazil in November 2025.{{Cite web |last=March 2025 |first=Jesse Chase-Lubitz // 10 |date=2025-03-10 |title=Scoop: Brazil hammers out details of forest fund ahead of COP30 |url=https://www.devex.com/news/scoop-brazil-hammers-out-details-of-forest-fund-ahead-of-cop30-109593 |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Devex |language=en}}
History
A version of this fund concept was originally proposed by World Bank treasurer Kenneth Lay in the 2000s. The mechanism, then called the Tropical Forest Finance Facility received broader attention through an article Lay co-wrote for The Center for Global Development.{{Cite web |last=de Nevers |first=Michele |last2=Lay |first2=Kenneth |last3=Wolosin |first3=Michael |last4=Bliss-Guest |first4=Patricia |date=14 June 2018 |title=The Tropical Forest Finance Facility |url=https://www.cgdev.org/publication/tropical-forest-finance-facility |access-date=4 April 2025 |website=Center for Global Development}} The current iteration was announced at COP28 in Dubai, UAE in 2023 by Brazil’s Environment Minister Marina Silva and Finance Minister Fernando Haddad.{{Cite news |date=1 Dec 2023 |title=Brazil proposes global forest conservation fund at COP28 |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/brazil-proposes-global-forest-conservation-fund-cop28-2023-12-01/ |url-status=live |access-date=1 April 2025 |work=Reuters News}}
Government endorsements
The governments of France,{{Cite news |title=Visita ao Brasil do Presidente da França – Declarações na área ambiental |url=https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/canais_atendimento/imprensa/notas-a-imprensa/visita-ao-brasil-do-presidente-da-franca-2013-declaracoes-na-area-ambiental |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250106101528/https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/canais_atendimento/imprensa/notas-a-imprensa/visita-ao-brasil-do-presidente-da-franca-2013-declaracoes-na-area-ambiental |archive-date=2025-01-06 |access-date=2025-04-01 |work=Ministério das Relações Exteriores |language=pt-BR}} Germany,{{Cite news |title=At COP16, five countries commit to Tropical Forest Finance Facility |url=https://www.gov.br/secom/en/latest-news/2024/10/at-cop16-five-countries-commit-to-tropical-forest-finance-facility |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250302033214/https://www.gov.br/secom/en/latest-news/2024/10/at-cop16-five-countries-commit-to-tropical-forest-finance-facility |archive-date=2025-03-02 |access-date=2025-04-01 |work=Secretaria de Comunicação Social |language=en-GB}} Colombia, the UAE, Malaysia, Singapore{{Cite news |last=Beck |first=Martha Viotti |last2=Iglesias |first2=Somone |date=14 March 2025 |title=Brazil Has a $125 Billion Plan to Make COP30 a Rare Climate Success |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-14/brazil-s-125-billion-forest-fund-sets-to-make-cop30-a-rare-success |url-status=live |access-date=14 April 2025 |work=Bloomberg News}} and Norway have endorsed the facility or expressed interest in investing. Germany and Norway, are amongst the largest donors for tropical forest conservation, along with the UK.{{Cite web |date=2022-11-03 |title=Fundo Amazônia: Entenda o que é e de onde vem a verba utilizada |url=https://www.migalhas.com.br/quentes/376341/fundo-amazonia-entenda-o-que-e-e-de-onde-vem-a-verba-utilizada |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Migalhas |language=pt-br}} {{Cite news |last=Fuoco |first=Tais |date=2 Dec 2023 |title=UK Commits Additional €35 Million to Brazil’s Amazon Fund |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-02/uk-commits-additional-35-million-to-brazil-s-amazon-fund |url-status=live |access-date=1 April 2025 |work=Bloomberg}}
During a visit to Brazil in December 2024, then U.S. President Biden endorsed the TFFF.{{Cite web |last=House |first=The White |date=2024-11-17 |title=FACT SHEET: President Biden Marks Historic Climate Legacy with Trip to Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/11/17/fact-sheet-president-biden-marks-historic-climate-legacy-with-trip-to-brazils-amazon-rainforest/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=The White House |language=en-US}}
Technical advisors
The World Bank, the U.N. Development Programme, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, as well as the Wildlife Conservation Society, Conservation International, the World Wide Fund for Nature, and Campaign for Nature are technical advisers to the TFFF.
Proposed structure
The program would consist of two primary institutions, the TFFF and the Tropical Forest Investment Facility (TFIF).
The TFIF is to be a $125 billion fund, constituted through a mix of public and private investments hosted at a Multilateral Development Bank,{{Cite web |last=DiGirolamo |first=Mike |date=2024-12-16 |title=What’s the TFFF? A forest finance tool ‘like no other’ shows potential |url=https://news.mongabay.com/podcast/whats-the-tfff-a-forest-finance-tool-like-no-other-shows-promise-pitfalls/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=Mongabay Environmental News |language=en-US}} possibly the World Bank. These funds are to be invested in predominantly global south sovereign bonds. The profits from the fund, after interest payments to the investors, would be dispersed to the TFFF.
The TFFF uses the funds to reward countries for protecting those forests.
To be eligible to receive funds, a country must:
- Have tropical moist broadleaf forests{{Cite web |title=2025 02 24 TFFF Full Concept Note 2.0 - Public (1) (1).pdf |url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mnl9YGBJ-d-1SXEFpVbks2o8aGhYLMte/view |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Google Docs}}
- A deforestation rate below 0.5%
- Not be a high-income country (as classified by UNCTAD)
= Proposed disbursements =
Rainforest countries would receive US$4 for every hectare of intact forest as budget contributions.{{Cite web |last=Catanoso |first=Justin |date=2024-10-30 |title=COP16: ‘A fund unlike any other’ will pay tropical nations to save forests |url=https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/cop16-a-fund-unlike-any-other-will-pay-tropical-nations-to-save-forests/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Mongabay Environmental News |language=en-US}} For each hectare deforested that year, a deduction of US$400 is made from that sum. For each hectare degraded, US$100 are deducted. If deductions exceed the payout, countries are not required to pay a penalty. Previously deforested or degraded ecosystems that are fully restored become eligible for payouts again.
20% of total disbursements are to be passed along by the receiving countries to their "indigenous peoples and local communities".
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://tfff.earth/ TFFF Website]