09/24/2024 – 16:37
Finance Minister Fernando Haddad stressed that the Tropical Forest Finance Facility (TFFF) will be financed first by countries. In his view, the initiative, which foresees the creation of a billion-dollar fund for forest preservation, does not replace the carbon credit market.
In the morning, Haddad participated in a roundtable in New York to present the TFFF to foreign investors. “No funding was requested here. The contribution has to be made by sovereign countries,” he explained.
Earlier, he said that European countries have shown interest in the measure. In Haddad’s view, the TFFF is “complementary” to the positive impact generated by the carbon credit market, in which Brazil is advancing in terms of regulation.
“It is an additional mechanism, which does not compete with the first, but which is complementary and necessary for the preservation of tropical forests,” said Haddad.
Countries like Brazil and nations in Africa and Asia maintain tropical forests, such as the Amazon, but are not paid for the environmental services they provide, he explained. The goal of the fund is to raise funds from rich countries and pay developing countries that maintain their forests.
The criteria for distributing these resources are still being studied, as well as their governance, according to the minister. He noted, however, that there is already support for the initiative.
Haddad said he mentioned the fires in Brazil in conversations with foreigners, but that they were not questioned about them. “On the contrary. What happened there reinforces the need for a conservation fund, which the world does not have today. And it is not specific to Brazil,” he said.
According to the minister, the fires in Brazil have been caused by drought and criminal actions. “Crime only makes the situation worse. But the situation already exists, the real situation, of a humid forest that is now susceptible to burning,” he concluded.
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