Posted on December, 02 2023

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2 December): The Forests and Climate Leaders Partnership (FCLP) today announced new finance and partnerships for forests, most notably the country packages that will help in the delivery of national plans in five countries. 

Statement from Fran Price, Leader, WWF Forest Practice: 

“We welcome the launch of the country packages under the Forests and Climate Leaders’ Partnership (FCLP) for the Republic of Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Republic of Congo (RoC) and Papua New Guinea as well as the National Ambition plan for Colombia and associated finance that was announced at the World Climate Leaders Summit.    

"These country packages are an important step forward to protecting and restoring forests in the three major tropical forest basins - the Amazon, Congo Basin and Asia-Pacific - and an important contribution to closing the forest finance gap outlined in the Forest Pathways report, alongside technical and political support. Globally, at least 100 times more public funding goes to environmentally harmful subsidies than to finance forests. Only US $2.2 billion in public funds are channeled to forests every year – a negligible fraction compared to other global investments.

"We are heartened to see that these packages are led by host countries and reflect their priorities. What will be important is that new commitments as well as actions in the country packages go beyond rhetoric and be backed by accountability, transparency and a clear action plan for halting deforestation, and protecting, restoring and sustainably managing forests.

"WWF is committed to contributing financial and technical support to the country packages in Colombia, RoC, DRC and PNG and looks forward to working with governments and other partners to translate these commitments into action.

All stakeholders need to play their part to break free from business-as-usual and course correct to 1.5°C. It’s time to put commitments into action. We need more than just words; we need decisive steps. The world is watching, and we can’t afford inaction anymore.”