Tropical Forest Forever Facility: a step to ending deforestation, Greenpeace response – greenpeace.org

Report on the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) and its Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals

Introduction

A new financial instrument, the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), has been launched in Belém, Brazil, with the objective of ending deforestation. This report analyzes the facility’s structure, highlighting its potential contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while also identifying significant gaps that could undermine its effectiveness. The TFFF represents a critical initiative for achieving SDG 15 (Life on Land) and SDG 13 (Climate Action), but its success is contingent on addressing key structural and financial weaknesses.

Analysis of the TFFF Framework

Positive Developments in Support of the 2030 Agenda

The TFFF incorporates several progressive elements that align with global sustainability targets. These advancements are crucial for fostering equitable and effective conservation efforts.

• Support for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPs&LCs): The facility mandates a 20% direct allocation of finance to IPs&LCs. This measure directly supports SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) by empowering marginalized communities and recognizing their vital role in forest stewardship. It also promotes SDG 1 (No Poverty) by providing direct economic resources to forest-dependent populations.
• Enhanced Transparency: The framework includes stronger transparency measures for the allocation of forest payments, a key component for building trust and accountability, which is central to SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).
• Valuing Intact Ecosystems: By creating a mechanism that values standing forests, the TFFF incentivizes conservation over exploitation, directly contributing to the targets within SDG 15 (Life on Land), specifically target 15.2 concerning the sustainable management of all types of forests.

Identified Gaps and Risks to SDG Attainment

Despite its potential, the TFFF contains significant deficiencies that risk compromising its stated goals and its contribution to the SDGs. These must be addressed to ensure the facility becomes a credible instrument for global forest protection.

1. Inadequate Protection and Monitoring Standards:
   • The eligibility threshold for forest cover is set at a 20-30% canopy cover. This low standard could allow for payments to forests that are already significantly degraded, failing to fully uphold the objectives of SDG 15 to halt and reverse land degradation.
   • Degradation monitoring is limited to fire scars, excluding other major drivers such as logging and fragmentation. This narrow focus presents a significant risk to biodiversity and the integrity of forest ecosystems.
2. Financial and Accountability Weaknesses:
   • The financing model prioritizes payments to sponsors and investors before tropical forest countries and IPs&LCs, creating an inequitable structure that could undermine SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
   • Dependence on volatile global markets introduces instability into the funding mechanism, threatening the long-term reliability of resources needed for sustained action on SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 15.
   • It is recommended that contributions to the TFFF should be additional and not count towards the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) or divert funds from other climate and biodiversity initiatives, ensuring robust and diverse funding streams for all sustainability efforts.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The launch of the TFFF is a noteworthy step towards achieving global goals for forest protection. Brazil’s recent success in reducing Amazon deforestation rates provides positive momentum for international cooperation. However, for the TFFF to effectively contribute to the 2030 Agenda, particularly SDG 15 (Life on Land), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), world governments must collaborate to strengthen its framework. It is imperative that an action plan is established at COP30 to address the identified gaps, ensuring the facility delivers stable, equitable, and transformative protection for the world’s high-integrity tropical forests.

Analysis of Sustainable Development Goals in the Article

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 15: Life on Land: This is the most prominent SDG, as the article’s central theme is the protection of tropical forests, ending deforestation, and halting forest degradation. The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) is explicitly designed to achieve these goals.
• SDG 13: Climate Action: The article connects forest protection directly to the global climate agenda by mentioning COP30 and the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) for climate finance. Tropical forests are critical carbon sinks, and their protection is a key strategy in combating climate change.
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities: The article emphasizes the importance of ensuring direct access to financial resources for Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPs&LCs). It highlights the “mandatory 20% direct allocation of finance to IPs&LCs” as a significant step towards their economic inclusion and empowerment.
• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals: The TFFF is presented as a financial instrument involving multiple stakeholders, including world governments and potentially investors. The call for “other countries [to] step up and do their part” underscores the need for global partnerships to achieve the goal of ending deforestation.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

1. SDG 15: Life on Land
   • Target 15.2: “By 2020, promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally.” The article directly supports this target by discussing the TFFF as a mechanism to “end deforestation and forest degradation by 2030.”
   • Target 15.5: “Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species.” The article’s focus on protecting “high-integrity tropical forests” and its criticism that the TFFF’s degradation monitoring is too narrow (focusing only on fire scars) directly relate to this target.
   • Target 15.b: “Mobilize and significantly increase financial resources from all sources to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and ecosystems.” The TFFF is a financial facility designed precisely for this purpose, aiming to provide “stable and reliable” funds for forest protection.
2. SDG 13: Climate Action
   • Target 13.a: “Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation…” The article touches upon this by discussing the TFFF as a financial instrument and explicitly stating that its contributions should not count towards the “New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG),” which is the successor to the $100 billion goal.
3. SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
   • Target 10.2: “By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all…” The article highlights the TFFF’s provision for a “mandatory 20% direct allocation of finance to IPs&LCs” as a key improvement that guarantees direct access to resources, thereby promoting their economic inclusion.
4. SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
   • Target 17.3: “Mobilize additional financial resources for developing countries from multiple sources.” The TFFF is a clear example of such a mechanism, aiming to channel funds towards tropical forest countries.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

Yes, the article mentions or implies several specific indicators:

• Deforestation Rates: The article provides concrete figures as indicators of progress: “deforestation rates in the Amazon continue to decrease – 11% compared to the previous period, 50% compared to 2022.” This directly measures progress towards SDG Target 15.2.
• Forest Cover Threshold: The TFFF uses a specific criterion for eligibility: “the threshold for forest cover eligibility set at a 20–30% canopy cover.” While criticized, this is a quantifiable indicator used to determine which forests qualify for payments.
• Forest Degradation Metrics: The article mentions a specific, though limited, indicator for degradation: “degradation monitoring focuses only on fire scars.” This implies that a more comprehensive set of indicators, including logging and fragmentation, is needed.
• Financial Allocation to Indigenous Peoples: A clear, quantifiable indicator for progress on SDG Target 10.2 is mentioned: the “mandatory 20% direct allocation of finance to IPs&LCs.” This provides a measurable way to track the financial inclusion of these communities.
• Mobilized Financial Resources: The existence and funding level of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) itself serves as an indicator of mobilized financial resources for forest protection, relevant to SDG Targets 15.b and 17.3.

4. Summary Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: greenpeace.org