The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) is a proposed blended-finance mechanism to incentivise countries to prevent the

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

and

degradation Degradation may refer to: Science * Degradation (geology), lowering of a fluvial surface by erosion * Degradation (telecommunications), of an electronic signal * Biodegradation of organic substances by living organisms * Environmental degradation ...

of moist broadleaf forests. The fund would use profits from capital market investments to provide results-based payments to rainforest countries. The mechanism was proposed by the

Brazilian government The politics of Brazil take place in a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. The political and administrative ...

with the aim of launching the facility at COP30 in Belem, Brazil in November 2025.

History

A version of this fund concept was originally proposed by

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

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. The current iteration was announced at COP28 in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

in 2023 by Brazil’s Environment Minister

Marina Silva Maria Osmarina Marina da Silva Vaz de Lima (born Maria Osmarina da Silva; 8 February 1958), known as Marina Silva, is a Brazilian politician and environmentalist, currently serving as Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, a position ...

and Finance Minister

Fernando Haddad Fernando Haddad (; born 25 January 1963) is a Brazilian scholar, lawyer and politician who has served as the Brazilian Minister of Finance since 1 January 2023. He was previously the mayor of São Paulo from 2013 to 2017 and the Brazilian mini ...

Government endorsements

The governments of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, the

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

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. During a visit to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in December 2024, then U.S. President

Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

endorsed the TFFF.

Technical advisors

The

, the U.N. Development Programme, the

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is an entity—such as a company, or corporation or an institution (formal organization), or an association—comprising one or more people and having a part ...

, as well as the

Wildlife Conservation Society The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a global 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) non-governmental organization, headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, with a mission to save "wildlife and wild places across the globe". Founded in ...

Conservation International Conservation International (CI) is an American nonprofit environmental organization headquartered in Crystal City, Virginia, in Arlington County, Virginia. CI's work focuses on science, policy and partnership with businesses, governments and co ...

, the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named th ...

, 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 An international financial institution (IFI) is a financial institution that has been established (or chartered) by more than one country, and hence is subject to international law. Its owners or shareholders are generally national governments, alt ...

, possibly the

. These funds are to be invested in predominantly global south

sovereign bonds A government bond or sovereign bond is a form of bond issued by a government to support public spending. It generally includes a commitment to pay periodic interest, called coupon payments'','' and to repay the face value on the maturity da ...

. 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 Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Description TSMF is generally found in large ...

* A deforestation rate below 0.5% * Not be a high-income country (as classified by

UNCTAD UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the United Nations General Assembl ...

)

Proposed disbursements

Rainforest countries would receive US$4 for every

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

of intact forest as budget contributions. 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

TFFF Website
Funds Deforestation Global issues Investment funds