COP30: Forest Advances and Implementation Challenges

During the second week of COP30, held in Belém from 10 to 21 November, the conference entered its most decisive stage, revealing a contrast between concrete progress—particularly within forest-related and socioenvironmental justice agendas—and significant impasses in the global energy transition. In a year in which the Amazon was selected as a strategic stage, expectations centered on transforming international commitments into tangible instruments for preservation and for the responsible use of natural resources.

Amazon at the Center: Forests, Governance, and Climate Security

COP30 reaffirmed the centrality of tropical forests as fundamental pillars of the global strategy to maintain the 1.5 °C target. Several financing and cooperation mechanisms were launched to strengthen models of conservation, sustainable forest management, and territorial regularization—components considered essential to ensuring climate security, biodiversity preservation, and land-tenure stability.

The announcement of the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF)—projecting more than USD 5.5 billion for countries that demonstrate verifiable conservation results—highlighted the shift from promises to performance-based financial instruments. The model seeks to accelerate protection measures, promote responsible forest-stock management, and stimulate public policies capable of guaranteeing continuous reductions in deforestation.

The agenda of land-tenure regularization and recognition of traditional territories also gained prominence, supported by a USD 1.8-billion commitment aimed at strengthening Indigenous and community-managed areas. Such measures address a longstanding demand: territorial security is a prerequisite for the effective implementation of sustainable forest management, responsible forest concessions, and long-term projects that reconcile conservation with socioeconomic development.

Socioenvironmental Justice and Integrated Governance

The expanded presence of Indigenous peoples, women, and traditional communities reinforced the premise that forest governance is only effective when it incorporates the perspectives of those who inhabit and depend directly upon these territories. Panels highlighted the leadership of family farmers, community representatives, and vulnerable groups in constructing sustainable production systems, restoring degraded lands, and protecting forest ecosystems.

Initiatives such as the RAIZ Initiative, focused on sustainable agriculture, climate resilience, and land restoration, indicate that COP30 has begun integrating productive models and forest conservation within a unified strategy—moving beyond fragmented or isolated commitments.

The Fossil-Fuel Roadmap Dispute: The Missing Link in the Climate Agenda

While forest and socioenvironmental agendas advanced in a clear and structured manner, the energy transition remained the most sensitive topic of the conference’s second week. More than 80 countries defended a concrete roadmap for the gradual elimination of fossil fuels, including targets, monitoring frameworks, and financial support for dependent economies. However, the preliminary text presented by the COP30 presidency was criticized for lacking binding clauses, clear timelines, and enforceable obligations.

Without a coherent plan to reduce coal, oil, and gas, researchers warn that forest-conservation efforts will continue to operate under significant uncertainty. This gap risks undermining coherence across mitigation, adaptation, and financing—three essential pillars of a low-carbon global economy.

Although mechanisms such as the TFFF represent notable progress, experts emphasize that trillions of dollars will be required to ensure energy transition and forest protection through 2035. The “Baku-to-Belém Roadmap”, which aims to mobilize USD 1.3 trillion per year for adaptation and mitigation, remains in its structuring phase, lacking the operational instruments necessary to convert commitments into execution.

The financial challenge thus emerges as the connective element across all agendas: without predictable resources, policies related to forest management, sustainable concessions, land-tenure regularization, and ecological restoration remain vulnerable to interruption and inconsistency.

Between Progress and Warnings: A Legacy in Construction

COP30 made clear the possible pathways for the global forest agenda: results-based financing, strengthened traditional territories, integration of sustainable forest management with socioeconomic development, and expanded participation of local communities. However, the success of these initiatives will depend on the capacity to build robust governance frameworks, ensure transparent monitoring, and consolidate the still-fragile link represented by the energy-transition roadmap.

At the close of the second week, the message echoed among negotiators, civil society, and specialists was both straightforward and demanding: transform COP30’s advances into real instruments for territorial management, forest preservation, and sustainable development.

Green Forest, through its work in forest management, sustainable concessions, land-tenure regularization, and environmental project development, recognizes that the outcomes of COP30 reaffirm the importance of integrated technical solutions for the future of the Amazon.