In Belém, Lula unveils fund for preservation of tropical forests
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva officially launched the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) during the Climate Summit in the Amazon city of Belém, Pará state, on Thursday afternoon (Nov. 6). During a lunch hosted by the Brazilian government, the president invited other nations to support the initiative.
“Forests are worth more standing than cut down. They should be included in our countries’ GDP. Ecosystem services need to be remunerated, as do the people who protect forests. International green funds are not up to the challenge,” he said.
The TFFF, Lula stated, is an innovative financing tool to help countries conserve tropical forests, which are present in more than 70 nations, including Brazil.
“The TFFF is not based on donations. Its role will be to complement the mechanisms that pay for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,” he pointed out.
The first contributions will be made by national governments, which will take the lead with resources that should activate the fund to leverage private capital. The proposal, designed by the Brazilian government, aims to initially reach USD 25 billion with the participation of countries and USD 125 billion with private capital.
The resources generated from investments in high-return projects will finance the maintenance of preserved forest environments per hectare.
“The profits will be shared by tropical forest countries and investors. These resources will go directly to national governments, which will be able to guarantee long-term sovereign programs,” the president noted.
The fund should also ensure that one-fifth of the resources are allocated to indigenous peoples and local communities, he went on to point out.
The maintenance of standing forests will be monitored by satellites capable of identifying compliance with the goal of keeping deforestation below 0.5 percent in eligible countries.
According to the president, it will be possible to pay countries USD 4 per hectare preserved.
“It seems modest, but we are talking about 1.1 billion hectares of tropical forests spread across 73 developing countries,” he stated.
The announcement comes after the Brazilian government contributed USD 1 billion on September 23, during the first dialogue to present the tool promoted by Brazil and the United Nations Secretariat (UNFCCC) in Brasília.
At the launch of the TFFF, the president also noted that the World Bank Board will host the TFFF’s financial mechanism and secretariat, with a governance model that is also hailed as innovative.
Lula pointed out that several countries with tropical forests and financiers have announced their support for the mechanism.
“We will be proud to remember that it was in the heart of the Amazon rainforest that we took this step together,” he declared.
