PH Eyes Fast-Track Access to Multi-Billion Global Tropical Forest Fund

Atty. Analiza Rebuelta-Teh, DENR Undersecretary for Finance, Information Systems, Climate Change, and Administration, speaks during a New York Climate Week session on the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), highlighting the Philippines’ push to fast-track access to performance-based financing for forest restoration and climate resilience. The initiative, led by UNDP, WWF, and the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, aims to provide long-term financing for countries that protect and restore tropical forests.

The Philippines is positioning itself to be among the first nations to access performance-based climate financing under the newly established Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), seeking to leverage performance-based financing to scale up national forest restoration and strengthen climate resilience, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) announced during New York Climate Week.

Atty. Analiza Rebuelta-Teh, DENR Undersecretary for Finance, Information Systems, Climate Change, and Administration, highlighted the country’s readiness to join the TFFF Fast Track Programme, an initiative led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC), which seeks to assist frontrunner tropical forest countries in accessing long-term, results-based financing.

Detailing the country’s environmental reality, Undersecretary Teh noted that between 2001 and 2022, the Philippines lost 1.42 million hectares of tree cover due to land conversion, urbanization, and climate pressures. At the same time, sustained national action has helped reverse trends, with forest cover increasing by about 6 percent from 6.8 million hectares in 2010 to 7.22 million hectares in 2022.

Through the Enhanced National Greening Program and Community-Based Forest Management initiatives, the government continues to restore degraded watersheds and protect vital ecosystems. However, Undersecretary Teh emphasized that local ambition alone cannot bridge global financial realities.

Citing UNEP’s State of Finance for Forests report, Undersecretary Teh pointed out that annual global forest investment must surge from $84 billion to $300 billion by 2030, leaving a $216 billion annual gap. Officially launched at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, the TFFF addresses this shortfall by offering predictable payments of up to $4 per hectare for standing tropical forests, targeting a $10-billion capitalization goal by late 2026 with over $7.3 billion already mobilized.

“For the Philippines, TFFF is not just a payment mechanism—it is a restoration engine,” Undersecretary Teh said during her intervention. She explained that the facility’s flexible use of proceeds would allow the Philippines to reinvest standing forest revenues into scaling up national restoration programs.

Undersecretary Teh explained that TFFF explicitly excludes monoculture plantations, ensuring payments reward high-integrity natural ecosystems while applying performance discounts for deforestation and fire degradation. With severe monsoons and floods impacting 1.3 million Filipinos just last month, Undersecretary Teh emphasized that healthy forests serve as a front-line defense against climate disasters.

Undersecretary Teh further highlighted the importance of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in sustaining forest landscapes, noting that the Philippines plans to allocate at least 20 percent of TFFF payments directly to Indigenous Peoples and local communities. 

“As the true stewards of our lands, local communities must hold direct governance and financial resources to sustain forest landscapes,” Undersecretary Teh added.

The initiative aligns with the country’s updated 2026 Nationally Determined Contribution—which raises its unconditional emissions reduction target to 7 percent, driven by the Forestry and Land Use sector—and advances the national Voluntary Forest Carbon Market Roadmap. Reaffirming the country’s commitment, Undersecretary Teh declared that the Philippines stands ready as a frontrunner to establish proof of concept and show how results-based finance can transform forest landscapes.