Deforestation skyrockets as Brazil plans forest-focused COP30

Tropical forest loss almost doubled between 2023 and 2024, fueled largely by wildfires, according to a report released today by the World Resources Institute. The emissions from the forest fires were four times greater than emissions caused by aviation in 2023. The report comes just six months before tens of thousands of people are set to fly to the Brazilian Amazon for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for the 30th U.N. climate summit, or COP30. Brazil, which has the second-largest forest cover in the world after Russia, has indicated plans to make forest conservation a central theme of the negotiations. At the core of Brazil’s COP30 forest plan is operationalizing the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, or TFFF, which is a proposed international fund designed to financially reward countries for preserving their tropical forests. It was first proposed in 2023 at COP28. The government is now looking for countries to provide the initial funding so that the TFFF can eventually become a $125 billion investment fund. Experts say that the new data underlines the need for a financial architecture that focuses on forest conservation. Brazil experienced its most intense and widespread drought in seven decades over the last year, according to Mariana Oliveira, interim director of the forests and land use program at WRI Brasil, speaking during a press conference last week. “Recent fire events, and ongoing deforestation of tropical forests only further illustrate the urgent need for financial mechanisms that can attract funding for forest protection at large scale,” said Pedro Moura Costa, the director of BVRio, an environmental organization based in Rio de Janeiro, and one of the minds behind the TFFF. A threat or a boost to TFFF? The fund would generate annual payments to participating tropical forest countries based on the area the country preserved — an estimated $4 per hectare each year. If the country loses forest, they are penalized. For every hectare lost, the country loses between $400 and $800, depending on the extent of deforestation. The TFFF covers tropical and subtropical forests, which shouldn’t experience natural fires. “The latest global forest loss data from WRI strengthens the case for a bold, innovative financial instrument at scale such as the TFFF,” said Edward Davey, head of WRI Europe’s U.K. office. “It’s even more powerful because it’s led from one of the world’s most important tropical forest countries. And [the data] should strengthen the case for it to receive widespread international support from sovereign governments and other investors by COP30.” WRI has said that they hope the data will help inform the COP30 negotiations. “Initiatives such as the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) demonstrate Brazil’s intention to lead by example, not only through diplomacy but also through scalable solutions for forest protection and climate finance,” Oliveira told Devex. “We expect that Brazil uses the data released as a call to action to keep moving in the right direction.”