Brazil Pledges $1B to $125B Tropical Forest Conservation Fund Supported by China

Brazil has pledged a $1 billion investment in the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), a multilateral fund aimed at conserving tropical forests globally, with the announcement made by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at a United Nations event in New York. Brazil is the first country to contribute to the fund, which seeks to mobilize up to $125 billion from sovereign funds and private investors to provide annual payments to countries based on their success in reducing deforestation. The fund emphasizes support for Indigenous peoples and local communities, with at least 20% of resources allocated to them, and penalizes forest loss and degradation. China, the UK, Germany, and other countries have shown early support, and Brazil's commitment is intended to encourage further contributions from both wealthy and developing nations ahead of the COP30 climate summit in Belem, which Brazil will host. The initiative is seen as a transformative effort to protect critical tropical forest basins such as the Amazon, Congo, and Borneo-Mekong, which together cover 80% of the world's remaining tropical forests. Brazil's leadership in funding the TFFF is meant to demonstrate confidence in the mechanism and galvanize global cooperation on forest conservation.