The United for Our Forests Group brings together 18 developing countries that hold more than 62% of the world’s tropical forests. The Group made important commitments and expressed its views in the Joint Communiqué issued in Belém in August 2023. Since then, the Group’s governments have made important new commitments to conserve forests and halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, as set out in the Ministerial Declaration of the 19th Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) in 2024, as well as in the final decision of the First Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement (GST) in 2023. Several members of the Group have also taken on ambitious commitments to restore and plant new extensive areas of tropical forests. In light of these important environmental commitments, the Group is well placed to play a significant role in the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference, to be held in Belém in 2025.

Building on four successful public meetings in 2024, including in UNFF 19, this event will be an opportunity to share information, views and experiences about the efforts of the group to conserve forests, halt and reverse deforestation, sustainably manage and restore extensive areas of tropical forests. It will also be an occasion to share updated analyses about economic instruments to finance our efforts in this domain, such as grants, credit, equities, risk sharing, payment for ecosystem services, results-based payments, and the carbon market.

CPI/PUC-Rio will participate in the event and present a mapping of financial instruments for forests developed in partnership with the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The work outlines a typology of financial instruments for conservation, restoration, and deforestation control, systematizing the financial mechanisms available for countries to fund their efforts to preserve tropical forests.

Opening Session

• Representative of Brazil
• Representative of the Republic of the Congo
• Representative of Papua New Guinea
• Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo, Director, United Nations Forum on Forests Secretariat (UNFF)

Forest Conservation and Restoration Financing: Overview

• Giovanna de Miranda, Communications and Program Manager at CPI/PUC-Rio

Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF): Current Status and Future Prospects

• Garo Batmanian, Director-General, Brazilian Forest Service

Debt for Nature Swap: Experience from Ecuador

• Speaker to be defined

Forest Conservation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Local Experiences, Universal Lessons

• Joseph Malassi, Climate Change Advisor, Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable
  Development

Joint mitigation and adaptation for the integral and sustainable management of forests in the context of non-market based approaches

• Diego Pacheco Balanza, Charge d’affaires a.i., Permanent Mission of Bolivia to the UN

Sustainable Forest Management in the Republic of the Congo

• Dieudonné Sita, Director for Forests, Ministry of Forest Economy, Republic of the Congo

Payment for Ecosystem Services: Experiences from Brazil

• Virgilio Viana, General Superintendent, Foundation for Amazon Sustainability

Fostering Sustainable Livelihoods and the Bioeconomy: Lessons from Colombia

• Speaker to be defined

Closing Remarks

• Marco Tulio Cabral, Head of the COP 30 Forests Unit, Brazil