Yesterday, Brazil’s President Lula de Silva announced a “catalytic” $1billion investment in the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), making Brazil the first country to commit a contribution to the tropical forest fund.
Global Witness welcomes this pledge, viewing it as an important step toward building confidence for the initiative, and signalling bold political leadership. But with the 2030 deadline to end deforestation fast approaching, Global Witness warns that the TFFF alone cannot save the world’s forests.
There is strong evidence that the world’s worst deforesters are generating profits for banks on a scale that dwarfs the potential returns of the TFFF. To change this, governments must also act to stop the billions flowing from financial centres into deforestation.
Global Witness Senior Policy Advisor Ashley Thomson said:
"Brazil’s $1 billion pledge is a crucial step in building confidence in the TFFF. But for it to succeed, governments cannot rely on the facility alone. Brazil can't save our world's remaining forests while banks keep fuelling the chainsaw economy.
"The TFFF must not be used to whitewash banks' reputations or greenwash wealthy governments' complicity in the deforestation crisis.
"Until governments act to cut off the cash flowing to deforestation-linked businesses, these investments and profits will continue to soar at the planet’s expense."
Global Witness is calling on sponsor governments – especially in the US, UK, China, and the EU – to introduce binding laws cutting off deforesting companies from the financial system.
As for the future of the ambitious initiative, Global Witness reiterates its assertion that Indigenous and local communities are the best stewards of our forests, so they must be given central decision-making power in the TFFF's execution.
