Speech by President Lula at the opening of the Tropical Forests Forever Facility meeting

Ten years ago, in the context of the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the negotiations of the Paris Agreement, the then Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, issued a fundamental warning:

“We are the last generation that can take action to prevent the worst impacts of climate change.”

The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (Fundo Florestas Tropicais para Sempre /TFFF), which will be launched at the COP in Belém, represents an unprecedented tool in this fight. More than protecting a specific biome, the TFFF is a mechanism to preserve life on Earth itself.

Tropical forests provide essential ecosystem services for climate regulation.

They contain the largest freshwater reserves in the world, protect the soil, store oxygen, and absorb carbon dioxide.

Their degradation would irreversibly compromise the global climate balance.

When tropical forests reach their tipping points, the effects of this catastrophe will not be felt only in Belém, Kinshasa, or Jakarta.

The decision to host COP30 in the heart of the Amazon stemmed from the urgency of placing forest preservation at the center of climate debates, from the perspective of the Global South.

Developing countries have often been accused of failing to take care of the environment.

But it is useless to import models that are distant from local realities.

There will be no possible solution for tropical forests without the leading role of those who live in them.

In 2023, together with countries from South America, Africa, and Asia, Brazil launched the United for Our Forests Initiative.

We recognized that resources for conservation are scarce.

The Tropical Forests Forever Facility was designed to fill this critical financing gap.

The TFFF will change the role of tropical forest countries in addressing climate change through real economic incentives.

Its financial and institutional model was developed with the support of the World Bank and international organizations, and through consultations with civil society, Indigenous peoples, and local communities.

The goal is to compensate countries that keep their tropical forests standing.

The TFFF upholds the Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities.

It will complement mechanisms for payments for emission reductions of greenhouse gases.

Initial contributions can be made by both developed and developing countries.

These sovereign investments will leverage a blended fund.

The dividends generated will be distributed annually between investors and the countries that keep their forests standing.

Every year, satellite monitoring will make it possible to identify whether countries are meeting the target of keeping deforestation below 0.5%.

Reforestations will be accounted for over time.

The target is for each country to receive up to 4 dollars per hectare preserved.

It may seem modest, but we are talking about one billion one hundred million hectares of tropical forests spread across 73 developing countries.

The Amazon, Congo, and Borneo-Mekong basins hold eighty percent of the remaining tropical forests.

Having stable and continuous financing for structural public policies of this nature will have a transformative impact on the Global South.

Directing part of these resources to Indigenous peoples and local communities can provide adequate means for those who have always cared for our forests and woodlands.

The TFFF will coordinate conservation, sustainable use of ecosystem resources, and social justice in pursuit of a new development model.

Its decision-making bodies will include both investor countries and tropical forest countries.

Social and expert participation will add value to the assessment and improvement of the mechanism.

Last month, in Bogotá, the TFFF received the support of the member countries of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization.

Brazil will lead by example and become the first country to commit to investing in the Fund, with 1 billion dollars.

I invite all the partners present to make equally ambitious contributions so that the TFFF can become operational at COP30, in November, in the Amazon. In Belém, we will experience the moment of truth for our generation of leaders.

Tropical forests are essential to keep alive the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.

The TFFF is not charity. It is an investment in humankind and the planet, against the threat of devastation from climate chaos.

Thank you very much.