By Lucas Guaraldo*
During Climate Week in New York, Brazil announced its commitment to allocate 1 billion dollars to the TFFF (Tropical Forests Forever Fund), which will finance the protection of tropical forests around the world. The first contribution to the fund reinforces Brazil’s commitment to the climate agenda on the eve of COP 30 in Belém and calls on other global leaders to act with ambition to make the fund viable.
“Brazil will lead by example and become the first country to commit to investing 1 billion dollars in the fund. I invite all the partners present here to make equally ambitious contributions so that the TFFF can become operational at COP 30. The fund is not charity, it is an investment in humanity and the planet against the threat of devastation from climate chaos,” said President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The TFFF, presented by Brazil at COP 28 in Dubai, seeks to reward countries that work to conserve and expand the coverage of their tropical forests. Unlike traditional funds, the TFFF aims to raise 125 billion dollars in public and private investments from all over the world. These funds will be invested in projects with a higher rate of return, generating a profit, the difference of which will be passed on to countries that present successful forest protection projects.
“Once again, Brazil is reaffirming its leadership in the climate agenda by announcing its investment in the TFFF, a mechanism that broadly aims to ensure quality of life, social justice, respect for native peoples and food security for humanity,” said André Guimarães, executive director of IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute) and special civil society envoy to COP 30.
Adapting to and mitigating climate change in the Global South is also closely linked to global food security. In addition to depending on rainfall produced in the Amazon, the largest tropical rainforest on the planet, Brazilian agriculture has suffered from a more unpredictable climate and frequent extreme events.
“The tropical world produces 50% of the food consumed globally. And it only does so because tropical forests distribute rain and irrigate crops,” added Guimarães. “The TFFF therefore has the noble mission of helping to protect humanity from the worst impact of climate change: hunger.”
Tropical protagonism
During the announcement of the investment, President Lula also defended the TFFF as a solution devised by the Global South to respond to its challenges and stressed the active listening of these countries and peoples to succeed in tackling the climate emergency.
“Developing countries have often been accused of not protecting their forests, but there is no point in importing models that don’t engage with the local reality. There will be no possible solution for tropical forests without the protagonism of those who live in them. The TFFF, which will be launched at the COP in Belém, is an unprecedented tool in the fight to preserve tropical forests. More than protecting a specific biome, this is a mechanism designed to preserve life on the planet,” said the president.
IPAM journalist, lucas.itaborahy@ipam.org.br*