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Unlocking Finance for Tropical Forests

The Tropical Forest Forever Facility rewards both past and ongoing conservation, helping countries build the next generation of climate solutions.

By Dr. Judith Ament, Global Forest Natural Climate Solutions Technical Specialist | October 19, 2026

A jungle canopy in the Amazon rainforest with green leaves and vines.
Earth’s rainforest Rio Bacaja in the State of Pará, Brazil. © Kevin Arnold
A woman with a tool standing in a wetland.
Dr. Judith Ament Global Forest Natural Climate Solutions Technical Specialist

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The Tropical Forest Forever Facility is a financial mechanism set up to help countries that have demonstrated relatively low and declining deforestation keep protecting their forests well in the long term. New analysis using data from Naturebase shows that finance for these countries could also unlock substantial opportunities for climate change mitigation through forest restoration, improved forest management, and addressing root causes of land-sector emissions.

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The countries best positioned to receive finance from TFFF for keeping tropical forests standing have been historically successful in avoiding deforestation. Because climate mitigation needs to be additional to historic baselines— that is, it needs to be on top of what would have happened without any intervention—this means there will be relatively little opportunity to mitigate additional emissions from avoided forest loss in these countries going forward. But that does not mean they have no climate potential. It just means their opportunity profile is different.

And it’s exactly the reason why TFFF financing is such an important complement to other financing instruments. We need forest finance to reward both past and ongoing conservation while helping countries build the next generation of climate solutions. TFFF funding could help countries invest in the next set of improvements, such as restoring damaged forests, managing forests better, and addressing the underlying causes of emissions from land use.

Looking across countries expected to meet TFFF eligibility criteria for deforestation rate and trend, it becomes clear that the best strategy for climate mitigation outcomes will come from several different pathways for each country.

A hill covered with dense forests in Latin America.
Ecuador The Ecuadorian Amazon is among the finest, and most vulnerable, ecosystems in the world. © TNC

Pathway

Keep Exisiting Forests Standing

Protecting forests is expensive, and countries eligible for TFFF funding have historically been footing most of this bill. Potential payouts from TFFF could therefore justifiably be used to support or maintain these ongoing efforts. TFFF’s foundational value remains the maintenance of standing forests. Other purposes and pathways should complement, not substitute for, continued protection.

A man plants a small sapling in Latin America.
WOPA070523_D020 WOPA070523_D020 © ©Scott Warren 2007 - Scott Warren

Pathway

Invest in restoration where ecologically and socially relevant

Our analysis shows significant potential for forest restoration in most TFFF eligible countries. Potential uses of finance could include assisted natural regeneration, restoration of degraded native forest, improving connectivity between forest areas, and/or locally appropriate reforestation where natural regeneration alone is slow or ineffective. Countries with strongly restoration-led opportunity portfolio’s include Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Costa Rica, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. Restoration work should always consider current land use, tenure, food production, biodiversity and community priorities.

A group of men look at the rings on a cut tree in the Congo Basin.
Hollow Logs TNC staff and forest technicians measure the amount of hollowness at the center of a log in Republic of the Congo. © Peter Ellis/TNC

Pathway

Improve management in working forests

In countries with a substantial commercial forest sector, climate-smart forestry practices may provide opportunities to reduce harvest-related emissions while maintaining livelihoods and wood production. Naturebase provides information on practices such as reduced-impact logging as part of this pathway. Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Vietnam, and Solomon Islands all show strong climate-smart forestry potential as a share of their total forest-sector mitigation potential.

A group of men look closely at a map of forests and land-use in Indonesia.
Perencanaan Memetakan pereancaan guna lahan bersama warga © YKAN

Pathway

Address drivers beyond the forest boundary

Countries are expected to invest TFFF payments in policies and programs that contribute directly or indirectly to tropical and subtropical forest conservation. The TFFF concept note specifically encourages country-led strategies to address underlying pressures such as energy-use and land-use planning, rather than treating each payment as funding for an in-situ forest project.

Importantly, investments in restoration and improved forest management do more than generate climate mitigation benefits today. Successful restoration expands the total forest area and can help reduce future pressure on remaining natural forests. Over time, these gains may also strengthen countries' ability to maintain the long-term forest health and forest conservation performance that create eligibility for future TFFF payments.

A portfolio of possibilities

TFFF finance could do more than reward countries for the forests they have kept standing. Used strategically, it could also help countries protect those successes while investing in the future of land-sector climate mitigation: restoring degraded forests, improving the management of working forests and addressing the economic pressures that drive forest loss.

Our analysis suggests that those opportunities are not uniform across countries. The strongest national strategies will recognize these differences and build portfolios grounded in local priorities, rights and ecological conditions. The next step is to pair global screening and opportunity assessment with country-led planning, bringing together governments, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, scientists and practitioners to determine which opportunities are both ambitious and achievable.

High-altitude view of a Canadian landscape with a mix of fields and forest.
Manitoba, Canada River running through a forest and farmlands in Manitoba, Canada. © Andre Brandt/Nature United

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A woman with a tool standing in a wetland.

Dr. Judith Ament is a Global Forest Natural Climate Solutions Technical Specialist at The Nature Conservancy.

More About Dr. Judith Ament