A new “pay-to-preserve” climate deal is taking shape in Brazil, with 74 developing countries in line to receive payments for protecting their tropical rainforests. The “Tropical Forests Forever Facility,” proposed by Brazil’s President Lula da Silva, is the star proposal of the Belem climate summit.
The fund, which has already attracted $5.5 billion in pledges, aims to halt deforestation by creating a new economic reality. It’s designed to make it more lucrative for governments to keep their trees standing than to allow them to be cleared for logging or agriculture.
This ambitious plan is not based on charity. It’s a financial mechanism built on interest-bearing debt, with loans coming from wealthier nations and commercial investors. This model is intended to provide the scale and sustainability that past donation-based efforts have lacked.
Norway has already committed $3 billion to the fund, with Germany expected to follow. The summit’s location in the Amazon highlights the global importance of the forests these 74 nations steward.
In a significant move for climate justice, the fund also allocates 20 percent of its resources directly to Indigenous peoples, recognizing them as essential partners in preservation. This financial plan is being pushed as a solution to the “moral failure” warned of by the UN.