This year’s COP, scheduled for 10 to 21 November, will look different to previous summits. The last few COPs have been held in glitzy destinations including Dubai and Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Brazil has decided to bring the event to the city of belém on the edge of the Amazon rainforest. The host country hopes it’s choice of venue will highlight the need to conserve rainforests in the fight against climate change.
This issue is of great importance to Africa. If the Amazon is one of the world’s “green lungs”, the other is the congo Basin rainforest on the other side of the atlantic.the Congo rainforest is actually even more important as a carbon sink than the Amazon – it removes more carbon from the atmosphere than any other terrestrial ecosystem.
As Brazil looks to gather allies for its rainforest conservation proposals, it has been eager to reinforce ties with Africa. In an address to the Africa Climate Summit in Addis Ababa last month, COP30 president André Corrêa do Lago told delegates that: “I am sure that all the things that unite Brazil and the African continent will be very clear at COP30.”
Fighting for forests
Worldwide, tropical forests are being lost at a rate equivalent to 18 soccer pitches per minute. DR Congo and Congo-Brazzaville both saw record levels of forest loss last year.
Phillip Kihumuro, forest restoration and carbon absorption manager at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Uganda, tells African Business that the loss of the Amazon and Congo Basin rainforests would have “catastrophic” consequences for climate, food security, local livelihoods and biodiversity. “We need to move ambition into real action.”
He says that one of the main challenges currently is that financing for forest conservation is “very minimal” – far short of the $500m per year he says is needed. “We need to develop and promote innovative financing mechanisms for us to find an opportunity.”
Kihumuro welcomes Brazil’s initiative in launching the Tropical Forests forever Facility (TFFF) wich aims to incentivise countries to conserve tropical forests. It will use a blended finance structure,in which both sovereign and private capital is invested into a fund that generates returns from a diversified portfolio. A portion of the returns would then be allocated to reward countries that conserve forestry. Countries could receive $4 for each hectare of preserved forest, providing they keep deforestation rates below 0.5% per year and that the deforestation rate is falling when they join the TFFF.
Based on these criteria, the non-profit Plant-for-the-Planet initiative estimates that Angola, the central African Republic, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Africa would be eligible to receive payments. Several other African countries could join this group if they can reduce deforestation. Brazil has set a lofty goal of raising $125bn for the TFFF, which would generate $4bn annually for forest conservation. In September the Brazilian government announced it would invest $1bn in the fund as it seeks to “lead by example” in encouraging contributions.
With the TFFF to be officially launched in Belém, a major priority for the COP30 hosts will be to encourage other governments and institutional investors to commit to the fund.
Can Africa make its voice heard?
While holding COP in Belém will shine a light on forest conservation, bringing the summit to a relatively small and remote location has its downsides. Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has spent recent months begging his counterparts to jet in for the summit. In a visit to Nigeria in August,the veteran leader called for “broad African participation,” noting that COP provides an opportunity to highlight the climate pressures facing the continent.
The cost of t