It could be the last and best chance to save the world’s tropical forests. As international aid budgets for conservation crash and carbon offset schemes for protecting forests are widely discredited, Brazil is about to unveil an ambitious plan that would triple current finance for saving forests worldwide by channeling profits from international trade in government bonds.
It could be the last and best chance to save the world’s tropical forests. As international aid budgets for conservation crash and carbon offset schemes for protecting forests are widely discredited, Brazil is about to unveil an ambitious plan that would triple current finance for saving forests worldwide by channeling profits from international trade in government bonds.
The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) is set to be announced by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as a centerpiece of the U.N. climate conference in the Amazon city of Belém next month. It would create a $125 billion investment fund intended to provide up to $4 billion a year to potentially 74 tropical and subtropical nations as a reward for protecting their forests.
The viability of the proposed scheme is being questioned by some ecologists and economists. And rich-world governments and philanthropic organizations have so far been slow to follow Brazil in pledging the seed funding thought necessary to attract private investors. But late last month the World Bank agreed to become the facility’s trustee and interim host, raising hopes ahead of the TFFF’s launch.
Read more at: Yale Environment 360
he Atlantic Rainforest in southern Brazil. (Photo Credit: Octavio Campos Salles)
