Our take on The Tropical Forest Forever Facility

Two cheers for the The Tropical Forest Forever Facility.

The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) is the best chance we have to fund a halt to tropical deforestation. We’re a fan but not quite a super-fan… yet.

What’s the The Tropical Forest Forever Facility?

The TFFF is Brazil’s plan to create a $125 billion endowment fund for rainforest protection. It looks to reduce deforestation by providing financial incentives to countries that protect their standing forests. It has 11 other countries supporting it already and will be centrepiece of discussion at COP30.

But for now, we’re only giving it two cheers. Here’s why.

What we love about it:

Brazil Leads: Globally there’s one billion hectares of tropical forest, and Brazil is home to 40% of them. Brazil is the World Bank for carbon. If they didn’t lead the TFFF then it would have little credibility.

It’s not a carbon credit scheme: We know that guaranteeing 300 years of rainforest protection for $10 a tonne is a fraud. A large endowment might actually mean ‘forever’ and freeze out the carbon cowboys.

Local people get a mention: At least 20% of the ‘surplus fund’ will go to Indigenous peoples, which must beat the 0% to 3% from carbon credit schemes like REDD+.

A few concerns:

Satellites: Brazil leads the world on mapping, monitoring, identifying and even weighing rainforest. We are in awe of TerraBrasilis. So, why is just 200m2 of forest per hectare evidence of ‘Intact Forest”? A cynic might worry about the future of the other 80%. Let’s fund best in class monitoring rather than the lowest common denominator.

People: The promise of at least 20% of funds for Indigenous peoples and local communities is great progress. But how about increasing it to match the amount of forest that they keep standing?

Cash: And, what about a direct payment to those communities? No middle-men, no government departments, no federations. It sounds fiddly but we’ve been doing exactly that for 18 years. For every dollar committed, as much as 95 cents has been delivered to local people. As a result, 99% of forest has remained standing.

It’s not rocket science. But it is the most effective rainforest protection on record. Commit money to local people and they stay committed to keeping their forest standing.

The TFFF is long overdue. Let’s just make sure get it right.