Over 100 international environment groups have criticised Brazil's Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), pointing out flaws to the plan, formally launched this week just ahead of the UN Cop 30 climate summit.
Brazil, which has a "very strong policy of public participation when drafting climate policies", did not follow that process when designing the fund, Victor Menotti, a senior fellow at environmental think-tank Oakland Institute, told Argus. Menotti is also the US co-ordinator of a global climate justice campaign.
The organisations criticising the TFFF say that the fund does not address the impacts of agriculture, mining or hydrocarbon extraction — adding that these are the "true structural causes of forest destruction".
And TFFF's profitability is not guaranteed, the groups said. They also slammed the fund for being a "greenwashing mechanism... and a distraction from the effective fight against deforestation". They raised concerns that "developing countries and civil society will have no decision-making power" on the fund.
TFFF would help pay around 80 developing countries $4/hectare (ha) for preserved tropical forests, Brazil has said.
"If you own land and you're deciding whether to grow soy or [farm] cattle, is $4/ha enough?", Menotti said. "I don't know where they got that figure."
TFFF's main investment plan comes from emerging country bonds, he added. "So that means [individual people] are paying for it."
Several countries have endorsed TFFF so far, with Norway, Indonesia and France pledging a combined $4.5bn, Brazilian government officials said on Thursday.
Colombia pledged $250mn, the Global Strategic Communications Council said. And Brazil pledged $1bn to the fund in September. Portugal and the Netherlands made smaller contributions to cover the fund's operational costs.
Germany has said it will contribute to the fund, but is yet to announce how much.
Deforestation will be a key topic at Cop 30, which begins on 10 November in Belem, northern Brazil. The issue was addressed at the Cop 26 and Cop 27 summits, in 2021 and 2022, but beyond the pledges, the EU's deforestation regulation is most likely to have direct consequences, particularly for agricultural commodity producers.
