Forests are among our most powerful allies in the fight against the climate crisis, absorbing carbon, protecting biodiversity, and sustaining the livelihoods of millions of people. Yet, deforestation and forest degradation continue at alarming rates, threatening global climate goals and ecosystem stability. 

Through the 2021 Leaders Declaration at COP26 in Glasgow, 145 governments pledged to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030. And yet, with 30 million hectares of trees lost, forest loss reached a record high in 2024, with almost half of the loss attributed to fires at an unprecedented scale.

Therefore, at COP 30, we urge parties to:

1. Launch the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF)

➔ Launch the Tropical Forest Forever Facility¹ (TFFF) with a fully funded junior-debt tranche by states of USD 25 billion.

➔ We urge the governments of Germany, Norway, UK, France, and UAE to announce specific investments in line with their pledges.

➔ Strengthen the Integrity and Accountability of the TFFF by advocating for robust improvements such as:

• establishing a comprehensive and independently monitored Negative Exclusion List,
• ensuring that financial return assumptions are transparent, evidence-based, and not overly optimistic,
• guaranteeing additionality, so only disbursements to rainforest countries count toward the NCQG,
• creating clear provisions for independent monitoring, transparency, and grievance mechanisms,
• enshrining explicit human rights protections for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, including FPIC and fair benefit-sharing,
• applying uniform USD 140 per-hectare penalties for all forms of forest degradation, not only those caused by fire.

 ¹ This Brazilian government initiative proposes an investment fund to support tropical rainforest conservation, moving away from relying on limited public funds. Investments by industrialized nations is essential to provide financial guarantees, making the facility attractive to large private investors. See tfffwatch.org

As the climate crisis deepens, children and youth are among the most affected, and yet among the most excluded from the decisions that shape their future. Around the world, they are already leading powerful movements, advancing innovative solutions, and holding decision-makers to account. Children are not just victims of the climate crisis but effective agents of change.

At COP 30, we must move beyond symbolic gestures and ensure meaningful, lasting empowerment of children and youth in all areas of climate action. Empowerment means more than participation. It means having access to climate education, the resources to lead change, and the right to be heard and to a healthy environment.

Therefore, at COP 30, we urge parties to:

1.  Recognize Children and Youth as Climate Leaders

➔ Reaffirm children and youth as rights-holders and essential actors in climate action, ensuring their official inclusion in decision-making structures such as national delegations, consultation bodies, and advisory roles.

➔ Recognize and empower children and youth, especially, but not only from the Global South, as key stakeholders in climate action by safeguarding their rights and well-being, ensuring their freedom of expression, and integrating their perspectives and lived experiences into all levels of climate decision-making.

➔ Create accessible, well-supported mechanisms for youth to engage, including youth-led consultations, capacity-building opportunities, and transparent channels for submitting inputs and recommendations that are taken into account in outcomes.