Netherlands pledges $500 million to preserve tropical forests — Mongabay

The Netherlands has pledged to provide $500 million over ten years to the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, a mechanism for long-term financing of tropical forest conservation. Mongabay reported this, citing a press release dated October 26.

Fund objectives

In the Netherlands, it is estimated that the fund has the potential to protect between 800 million and 900 million hectares of tropical forests. This is approximately 200 times the area of the country. The long-term goal of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility is to create an endowment fund worth $125 billion. The amount of announced commitments currently stands at about $7.8 billion.

Brazil launched the mechanism at the 30th UN Climate Change Conference in November 2025. The partnership involves countries with tropical forests, donor states, investors, the private sector, Indigenous peoples and local communities, the World Bank, as well as scientists, economists and civil society representatives.

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How the mechanism will work

The TFFF model is similar to a sovereign wealth fund: governments and private investors contribute funds, while investment returns are distributed among tropical countries for forest conservation. Stable revenues are expected to encourage permanent forest protection instead of unsustainable development, including logging, mineral extraction and pasture expansion.

Forest conservation will be monitored using satellite imagery and scientific monitoring protocols. At the same time, Stanford University economist Bård Harstad expressed doubts about the model's financial sustainability, as the fund must simultaneously provide returns to investors and payments to participating countries. Merijn van Leeuwen, director of conservation at WWF-Netherlands, called the Netherlands' contribution a significant breakthrough for tropical forest protection.