How to conserve tropical forests

Six months after COP30, the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) faces challenges in turning its promise into reality, as it aims to conserve tropical forests by compensating countries for conservation. The facility includes a $125 billion investment fund to support emerging economies, but its success depends on navigating markets, politics, and time.

STANFORD — Six months after last year’s United Nations Climate Conference COP30 , the Tropical Forest Forever Facility TFFF has gone from being a headline-grabbing promise to a test of whether climate finance can survive contact with markets, politics, and time. The TFFF’s purpose—conserving tropical forests—is of paramount importance. Tropical deforestation and land-use changes have contributed to nearly one-fifth of the world’s cumulative carbon dioxide emissions since 1850. Tropical forests are also among the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems and home to many Indigenous Peoples and local communities. But tropical countries face opportunity costs when conserving forests, so it falls on northern countries to compensate them for conservation efforts that benefit everyone. Such was the reasoning behind the Brazilian COP presidency’s TFFF proposal. Within the TFFF is a Tropical Forest Investment Fund TFIF that seeks to raise $125 billion, part of which will be invested in emerging and developing economies. The hope is that, with sponsor capital, guarantees, and a hig