A new $100 million emergency firefighting fund for South America was announced during New York Climate Week and the United Nations General Assembly, launching just as severe wildfires blanketed Brazil’s Manaus in toxic smoke. The initiative arrives as a United Nations report released Thursday highlights a multibillion-dollar global funding gap for preserving the world’s tropical forests.
South America Fire Fund Launch and Funding Structure
South America endured one of its most severe fire seasons in 2024, breaking records across the Amazon, the Pantanal, and the Chiquitano dry forest. To prevent a similar crisis during upcoming dry and drought periods worsened by El Niño, non-profits Renaissance Philanthropy and Conservation X Labs have spearheaded a new regional firefighting fund aiming to raise $100 million. The initiative secured an initial $30 million contribution from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation alongside a $5 million commitment from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
According to Alex Dehgan, CEO of Conservation X Labs and South America fire fund director for Renaissance Philanthropy, the region requires emergency mobilization comparable to humanitarian crises. The financing models draw lessons from established regional strategies, including a 15-year-old Indigenous fire brigade program in Bolivia and a specialized fire-detection camera network in Brazil.
“We’re at the possibility that we might lose the Amazon altogether, and once we lose the Amazon, we don’t get it back — the next couple of years are really going to matter,” said Kumar Garg, president of Renaissance Philanthropy.
Global Tropical Forest Funding Shortfalls and Regional Disparities
The U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network report released Thursday indicates that protecting and restoring tropical forests while expanding sustainable agroforestry systems requires an additional $66.8 billion by 2030. Funding reached just $14.6 billion as of 2023, while foreign aid allocations face a projected 15% decline this year.
Existing international distributions remain uneven and uncoordinated. The Congo Basin, which functions as the world’s largest net carbon sink, captures only 11% of global preservation financing. Meanwhile, broader initiatives such as the Tropical Forest Forever Facility—introduced at last year’s U.N. climate summit in Brazil to provide developing nations with long-term capital to keep forests standing—face difficulties meeting their $10 billion fundraising goal.
Exclusion of Southeast Asia and Africa Draws Criticism
Despite worsening wildfires driven by climate change and an intensifying El Niño, the newly announced South America fund excludes vast forest expanses in Africa and Southeast Asia. In Indonesia, massive blazes have scorched large tracts of land and generated widespread public health concerns regarding regional toxic haze.
“Forest fires are a global issue,” said Bhima Yudhistira, executive director of the Jakarta-based Center of Economic and Law Studies, or CELIOS, characterizing the omission of Southeast Asia as a “big mistake.” “Many of the tropical forest regions are affected by forest fires and need international solidarity.”
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