{"id":53826,"date":"2025-08-09T00:02:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T00:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/53826\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T00:02:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T00:02:19","slug":"amazon-fires-threaten-rainforest-protection-initiatives-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/53826\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon fires threaten rainforest protection initiatives funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Worsening fires in Brazil\u2019s Amazon are a threat to new initiatives to raise finance for rainforest protection \u2013 including carbon credits and investment funds \u2013 due to be showcased at COP30 in November, local climate experts say.<\/p>\n

Fuelled by a severe drought linked to climate change, fires in the Brazilian Amazon burned a record 15.6 million hectares<\/a> (38.5 million acres) last year \u2013 an area roughly the size of the US state of Georgia, according to the MapBiomas mapping initiative. Almost half of that was forest, as opposed to pasture or other land.<\/p>\n

Fires are also becoming an increasing cause of overall deforestation, reversing progress to tackle other kinds of forest destruction under President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva. In May 2024, fire accounted for 51%<\/a> of Amazon forest loss, up from 21% in the same month a year earlier, data from the BiomasBR monitoring programme shows.<\/p>\n

Fires not only devastate the forest and increase carbon emissions from the burned trees, but could also undermine longer-term efforts to fight deforestation, said Ane Alencar, science director at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), a research NGO.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitiatives such as payments for environmental services, bioeconomy development, ecological restoration, and nature-based solutions \u2013 all these efforts made to reduce emissions from deforestation can be affected because there have been forest fires,\u201d Alencar told Climate Home News in July, when the fire season normally starts.<\/p>\n

Risk for TFFF or call for action?\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the UN climate conference in the city of Bel\u00e9m, COP30 president Brazil will launch conservation initiatives including its Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) blended-finance mechanism, which aims to generate a flow of international investment to pay countries annually in proportion to their preserved tropical forests.<\/p>\n

If fires in the Amazon continue to worsen in the years to come, eligibility for funding could be jeopardized, Brazil\u2019s Environment Ministry acknowledged.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs with all countries participating in the TFFF, if the deforested area surpasses the mechanism\u2019s eligibility limit, the country will lose the right to receive payments that year,\u201d the ministry told Climate Home in emailed comments. To be eligible, a country\u2019s new deforestation cannot exceed 0.5% of its total forest area<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Images of smoke and flames billowing across the rainforest are also bad news from a PR perspective at a time when some countries have already \u201cexpressed reluctance to support the TFFF due to their responsibilities related to the new climate finance target approved at COP29,\u201d said Ciro Brito, senior climate policy analyst for the Instituto SocioAmbiental, a Brazilian NGO.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that context, factors such as the increase in fires in Brazil directly affect engagement around the TFFF and may hinder further commitments,\u201d Brito said.<\/p>\n

\"Fires
\nFires in 2024 in traditional territories in Par\u00e1 state in the Brazilian Amazon \u2014 Alto-Acar\u00e1 Quilombo and Tur\u00e9-Mariquita Indigenous Lands. (Photo: Par\u00e1\u2019s Federal Prosecutor\u2019s Office)<\/p>\n

But the growing fire threat makes the TFFF all the more vital and urgent, said Natalie Unterstell, president of the Talanoa Institute, a climate policy think-tank based in Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n

\u201cArriving at COP30 with negative fire indicators will, without a doubt, serve as a warning. But it should be read as a call to action,\u201d Unterstell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn increase in fires in the Amazon this year does not weaken the TFFF proposal \u2026 On the contrary, it reinforces the urgency of creating innovative financing mechanisms,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

PR firm working for Shell wins COP30 media contract<\/a><\/p>\n

Carbon credit troubles<\/p>\n

Rainforest ecosystems rarely burn naturally, but in recent decades, drought and deliberate fires set to clear land for agriculture have fuelled the threat to the forest from fire.<\/p>\n

In the state of Par\u00e1 \u2013 where COP30 will be held \u2013 the surge in wildfires could be another blow for the state government\u2019s troubled REDD+ carbon credit project<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo generate credits, we need proven emission reductions \u2026 So, what good is all our work to reduce deforestation if we lose it all to fire?,\u201d Renata Nobre, adjunct secretary of water resources and climate at Par\u00e1\u2019s environmental secretariat SEMAS, told a panel on fires\u2019 impact on Amazon investments at an event last month<\/a> in Bel\u00e9m.<\/p>\n

Deforestation via clear-cutting fell in Par\u00e1 last year, but fire damage skyrocketed. Par\u00e1\u2019s forest degradation \u2013 a category covering fires as well as selective lumber extraction \u2013 soared nearly 500%<\/a>, according to the Imazon research institute.<\/p>\n

Last year, the state signed a carbon credits deal worth $180 million with the LEAF Coalition, a public-private partnership including US retail giants Amazon and Walmart, and the US, British and Norwegian governments, among others.<\/p>\n

In June, federal prosecutors filed a lawsuit against the project, arguing that the deal was invalid because it violates Brazil\u2019s federal carbon market law and because Par\u00e1 lacks a legally approved system to emit carbon credits. They also said state authorities had failed to hold proper dialogue with forest communities.<\/p>\n

\"Ane
\nAne Alencar, Science Director of the Amazon Environmental Research Institute shows the jump in burned areas in 2024 in the highest red bar \u2014 an area larger than the deforested area (in green). (Photo: Tiffany Higgins)<\/p>\n

Forest fires are another potential problem for the REDD+ project, and in turn the state\u2019s potential income for environmental protection services such as firefighting, said Andrea Azevedo of Emergent, an NGO that administers the LEAF Coalition contracts.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if fires increase, as we saw in 2024, this translates into losses for the state, directly impacting its ability to fund these (fire control) policies,\u201d she told the panel in Bel\u00e9m.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Par\u00e1\u2019s forest loss fell within contractual limits stipulated by the LEAF Coalition as part of the programme, according to an email from the Par\u00e1 Environmental Assets and Participation Company (CAAPP) \u2013 the public-private company tasked with channelling funds raised from carbon credit sales to beneficiaries.<\/p>\n

But it is still unclear whether 2024\u2019s fires could put Par\u00e1 over the predetermined emissions targets.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly once accounting is complete will we know how much emissions reductions actually occurred and how it relates to the baseline the state adopted,\u201d said Joice Ferreira, a scientist at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) and a CAAPP board member.<\/p>\n

\u201cShortfalls below projections do not (alone) constitute a (contract) breach\u201d, because the state only sells verified emissions reductions, Ferreira added.<\/p>\n

Firefighting efforts \u2018not enough\u2019<\/p>\n

Both at the federal and state levels, authorities in Brazil have been ramping up firefighting initiatives and funding to respond to the growing threat.<\/p>\n

In Par\u00e1, land management programmes for farmers warn against starting fires to clear vegetation, while a new state fire plan launched in 2024 includes the use of satellite sensors, and public-private partnerships to supply equipment and vehicles.<\/p>\n

Local brigade training has also been stepped up. Indigenous firefighting teams like those in the Suru\u00ed Aikewara Indigenous territory prove that brigade training can work, said village chief Yrykwa Suru\u00ed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t had a big fire (since 2017),\u201d Suru\u00ed told Climate Home, explaining how training and financial support from the federal Ibama environmental agency has been used to teach community members to stop flames spreading when fires are set to clear plots for crops.<\/p>\n

\"Suru\u00ed
\nSuru\u00ed Aikewara Indigenous firefighters in Soror\u00f3 Indigenous Territory during a 2024 fire prevention training by licensing agency Ibama, with Chief Yrykwa Suru\u00ed in red. (Photo: Inamorol Suru\u00ed)<\/p>\n

Despite such efforts, stemming the fires in Par\u00e1\u2019s vast, forested interior is a huge challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2024, we saw an exponential increase in fire outbreaks \u2013 our efforts were simply not enough,\u201d said Nobre, the state official.<\/p>\n

As COP30 draws near, the growing fire threat and its links to climate change make a global response all the more urgent, said Leonardo Sobral, forest director of Brazilian non-profit Imaflora.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe increase in fires will only highlight the need to implement financial mechanisms that value standing forests as fast as possible. It is urgent that mechanisms like the TFFF be put into action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unterstell, from the Talanoa Institute, said Brazil\u2019s leadership at COP \u201cwill be judged by its ability to respond to this crisis with concrete and sustainable solutions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Worsening fires in Brazil\u2019s Amazon are a threat to new initiatives to raise finance for rainforest protection \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-53826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}