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Together with partners around the world, Forest Trends pioneers innovative finance for conservation, promoting healthy forests, sustainable agriculture, clean water, robust climate action, biodiverse landscapes, and strong communities.

Our programs and initiatives publish timely research, bring together diverse actors, and apply these approaches to make a difference on the ground, often blazing trails for bold and far-reaching policies in the process.

 
 

Forest Trends protects critical ecosystems through creative environmental finance, markets, supply chains, and other incentive mechanisms. We build diverse coalitions with governments, local and indigenous communities, and business to ensure that all stakeholders are engaged and benefit from conservation.

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Climate Communities Investments

Why COP30 Was A Turning Point

Forest Trends’ team was present in Belém, Brazil during COP30, where more than 60,000 delegates gathered in the heart of the Amazon for the annual global climate negotiations. While much of the international reporting has highlighted the shortcomings of this “COP of truth,” including limited progress on phasing out fossil fuels and the absence of […]

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Biodiversity Climate Communities Investments

Towards Inclusive and Equitable Jurisdictional REDD+

Edited and translated by Debora Batista and Melissa Panhol As the world moves to scale climate finance through Jurisdictional REDD+ (J-REDD) programs, a central question emerges: who benefits and how? Initiatives like the LEAF Coalition (Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance) represent promising efforts to mobilize large-scale results-based finance for forest protection. Yet, their success […]

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Water

A New Partnership with ADERASA: Why Water Utility Regulators Are Strategic Levers for Scaling Nature-based Solutions

Investment in nature-based solutions for water security is growing, but it remains uneven and still relies heavily on public tax dollars. Across Latin America and globally, most funding for watershed conservation and restoration continues to come from government programs and projects, rather than from the water users who directly depend on healthy ecosystems for reliable services. While public funding has been—and will remain—essential, this reliance raises a critical question for the future of the […]

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Climate Communities Investments

What We Learned from Phase 1 of Our Jurisdictional REDD+ Work and What Comes Next

As jurisdictional climate finance continues to scale, a central question remains unresolved: How can these programs meaningfully include Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, and Afro-descendant Peoples (IPs, LCs, & ADs), whose territories and governance systems are essential to forest protection? From 2023 to 2025, Forest Trends’ Communities and Territorial Governance Initiative explored what inclusive, rights-based engagement […]

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18 hours ago

Introducing Forest Trends’ 2026 Photo & Illustration Contest: “Resilience at Scale”!Join us in celebrating the resilience of nature through your creativity. This contest is a chance to showcase your talent, share your unique perspective, and help us promote conservation efforts. Whether you’re a seasoned photographer/artist or just starting out, we invite you to capture moments that highlight the people and places that inspire you to restore, protect, and live in harmony with nature. Great prizes await! Enter at: forest-trends.org/events/photo-illustration-contest-2026/_____Concurso de Fotografía e Ilustración de Forest Trends 2026: «Resiliencia a escala» Únete a nosotros para celebrar la resiliencia de la naturaleza a través de tu creatividad. Este concurso es una oportunidad para mostrar tu talento, compartir tu perspectiva única y ayudarnos a promover los esfuerzos de conservación. Si eres un fotógrafo/a o artista con experiencia o si estás empezando, te invitamos a capturar momentos que destaquen a las personas y los lugares que te inspiran a restaurar, proteger y convivir de manera sostenible con la naturaleza. Entre aquí: forest-trends.org/events/photo-illustration-contest-2026/_____Concurso de Fotografia e Ilustração da Forest Trends 2026: “Resiliência em Escala” Junte-se a nós para celebrar a resiliência da natureza por meio de sua criatividade. Este concurso é uma oportunidade para mostrar seu talento, compartilhar sua perspectiva única e nos ajudar a promover os esforços de conservação. Seja você um fotógrafo(a)/artista experiente ou iniciante, convidamos você a capturar momentos que destaquem as pessoas e os lugares que o inspiram a restaurar, proteger e viver de forma sustentável com a natureza. Entre aqui: forest-trends.org/events/photo-illustration-contest-2026/_____Cuộc thi ảnh và hình vẽ minh họa của Forest Trends 2026: “Sức mạnh bền bỉ của thiên nhiên”Hãy cùng chúng tôi tôn vinh vẻ đẹp và ý nghĩa của thiên nhiên qua ống kính của bạn. Cuộc thi này là cơ hội để bạn thể hiện cá tính sáng tạo, kể những câu chuyện của riêng mình và góp phần lan tỏa các nỗ lực bảo tồn. Dù bạn là nhiếp ảnh gia, hoạ sĩ hay người thiết kế đồ hoạ chuyên nghiệp, hay nghiệp dư, chúng tôi kêu gọi bạn ghi lại những khoảnh khắc về con người và những nơi truyền cảm hứng —những nơi đang được phục hồi, bảo vệ và gìn giữ để con người có thể sống hài hòa với thiên nhiên.Tham gia cuộc thi: forest-trends.org/events/photo-illustration-contest-2026/ ... See MoreSee Less
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2 days ago

Welcome back to Meet the FT team! This month, meet Marcio Halla, Director of our Territorial Governance Facility (mecanismodegobernanzaterritorial.org) and Local Economic Initiatives Lead of our Communities and Territorial Governance Initiative (CTGI).In his role, Marcio leads economic governance and restoration projects for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPs & LCs) across Latin America. Prior to joining Forest Trends, he implemented several sustainable development projects, working closely with IPs & LCs in the Atlantic Rainforest and Amazon region. Since 1997, he has actively managed projects on agroforestry, organic agriculture, sustainable forest value chains, community-based ecotourism, and forest management and certification. Marcio has also participated in several training programs related to sustainable development and management of natural resources, including the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program at UC Berkeley and LEAD International. He graduated from São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Agronomy, and he holds a master’s degree in Territorial Planning from Santiago de Compostela University (Spain). Marcio speaks Portuguese, English, and Spanish. Fun fact about Marcio: After almost 20 years living in the Amazon, Marcio's family moved to live by the ocean in the northeastern coast of Brazil in 2020. Nowadays, he gets inspiration and energy before each workday by alternating between his two favorite early morning activities: standup paddleboarding (SUP) surfing and taking his three dogs for a walk on the beach! ... See MoreSee Less
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3 days ago

Climate and conservation finance should directly support communities, the real stewards of our world's ecosystems, but too often the system is not built for them to access it.Most funding is designed for governments, development banks, and large international NGOs. Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPs & LCs) often face administrative, technical, and reporting requirements that are difficult to meet, even when the funds are intended for their territories. Strengthening Indigenous and community-led organizations and designing financing models that align with community governance systems is essential to expanding equitable access and ensuring resources reach the territories where they can have lasting impact. Discover all of our findings in our State of Climate and Conservation Finance for Indigenous Peoples & Local Communities Report at bit.ly/StateofIPLCReport #ClimateFinance #Conservation #Communities ... See MoreSee Less
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6 days ago

🔔 Just out: A Rapid Assessment of Liberia's Mining Sector, with a Focus on the Local Impacts on Forests and People.Forest Trends' new report uncovers a striking discrepancy: a US$2.7 billion gap (43%) between Liberia's reported mining exports and partner country import data from 2007 to 2023—suggesting the Government of Liberia and local communities may be losing millions in mining revenue each year.This gap points to potential smuggling and tax evasion, causing communities to miss out on promised benefits as environmental damage continues to mount.Read the full analysis at: bit.ly/FTMiningReport ... See MoreSee Less
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6 days ago

Wildfire is no longer a distant, seasonal threat. It is arriving earlier, spreading farther, and impacting places across the US that haven’t historically faced this level of risk.From the Plains to parts of the West, recent headlines confirm that conditions are aligning for what could become a severe wildfire year. The reality is that wildfire risk now touches more communities, more landscapes, and more livelihoods than ever before. Our work with the US Forest Service focuses on strengthening support for landscape-wide wildfire mitigation through strategic communications and community engagement—helping people understand the risks, connect to what’s at stake, and take action, whether that’s showing up to meetings, learning more about the work underway, talking to friends, or writing to local elected officials. Make your voice heard.Get engaged.Protect what matters.Learn more at: www.forest-trends.org/wildfire-resilience/ ... See MoreSee Less
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1 week ago

Our recent report "Nature Crimes: The Convergence of Criminal Economies in the Mekong Region" examines how environmental crimes are deeply embedded within broader illicit economies across the Mekong Region, and how Myanmar’s 2021 military coup served as a catalyst for explosive criminal expansion across the region.The report shows that nature crimes are directly linked to widespread corruption, human rights abuses, ecological degradation, financial crime, terrorism, and other threats to peace and human security, and it reveals the staggering scale of financial gains generated internationally from these activities.Read our full analysis at: bit.ly/NatureCrimes ... See MoreSee Less
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1 week ago

Protecting nature isn’t just about conservation, it’s about changing the systems that drive deforestation and ecosystem loss in the first place. Forest Trends works at the intersection of data, finance, and policy to help shift incentives toward sustainability. If that mission resonates with you, a donation helps us go further: bit.ly/ForestTrends-Donate ... See MoreSee Less
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1 week ago

In celebration of World Water Day, and in support of Mina Guli, RunBlue, and the #WorldWaterRun our staff from many corners of the world stepped outside for a walk, run, or hike. Through our Water Initiative, Forest Trends is deeply invested in nature-based solutions for water, access to clean water, and the sustainable management of this essential resource. On a personal level, water shapes every part of our lives, and while we realize that it is easy for many of us to take this resource for granted, World Water Day is an important reminder that protecting it is a responsibility we all share. ... See MoreSee Less
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2 weeks ago

🌳 Can forest governance work without a central government? New evidence from Myanmar suggests that it can. Myanmar’s political crisis has dismantled national oversight of forests and natural resources. Yet our new report finds that subnational authorities in the country’s ethnic territories can still monitor and protect forests. Working with the exiled National Unity Government’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, Forest Trends monitored 1.06 million hectares of protected forest across five townships using satellite data and field verification. The results reveal a surprising reality: small-scale gold mining—not illegal logging—has emerged as a primary driver of deforestation. Read the full findings at the link below.www.forest-trends.org/publications/forest-governance-without-a-central-government ... See MoreSee Less
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2 weeks ago

Have you read our joint new protocol with @landesaglobal for consultation and Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) in carbon projects?In it, we outline a practical, rights-based approach for integrating #FPIC throughout the lifecycle of carbon projects. By strengthening consultation, transparency, and community decision-making, the protocol aims to reduce tenure risks and support more durable climate outcomes.Explore the protocol here: bit.ly/FPIC_Protocol ... See MoreSee Less
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Our natural resources are at great peril because of an economic system that does not value standing forests and their services. Forest Trends has developed strategic approaches to address this problem – but we can only succeed with your support.