Why Indonesia must seize the Tropical Forests Forever Facility

WHEN world leaders gather in Belem this November for COP30, the spotlight will not just be on emissions targets or carbon markets. A new actor is garnering attention: the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF). Brazil’s audacious push to create a US$125 billion endowment-style fund to reward tropical forest nations for preserving their standing forests demands serious attention – not least from Indonesia, a country whose forests are among the world’s most precious, yet most imperilled.

For decades, Indonesia has relied on carbon markets, bilateral aid, REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) schemes, and grants to fund forest conservation. These models have value, but they also come with limits: volatility, uncertainty, bureaucracy and delayed compensation. TFFF promises something different – steady, predictable finance tied directly to forest conservation performance, with built-in benefit sharing for indigenous peoples and local communities. It reframes forest protection as a long-term investment, not charity.

Brazil has already stepped up. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has committed US$1 billion to the fund, making his country the first to convert rhetoric into hard capital. The architecture of TFFF is being co-shaped by Indonesia and other tropical forest countries, alongside donor governments and philanthropies.