Guyana has stepped into a central leadership role as part of a coalition of 34 governments that launched the Forest Finance Roadmap for Action—a six-point plan to close the $66.8 billion global forest finance gap and accelerate efforts to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030.
The initiative, unveiled during New York Climate Week in collaboration with Brazil and supported by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), marks the first joint framework uniting governments from both the Global North and South around a common vision for financing forest protection.
Aligned with the COP30 Action Agenda and Presidency Priorities, the Roadmap translates previous high-level pledges—such as the COP26 Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration—into practical, finance-ready solutions that can be scaled in Belém and beyond.
At the launch, Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, stressed the importance of stable, reliable financing for countries and communities safeguarding forests. “If we want forests to stay standing, finance must be reliable and fair, so that communities and countries can make choices for the long term. Stability of finance is the bridge between ambition and action,” he said.
The Roadmap outlines six priority actions to unlock billions in public and private investment, including:
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Establishing innovative financial mechanisms such as the Tropical Forests Forever Facility,
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Expanding demand for high-integrity jurisdictional forest credits,
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Accelerating growth of the forest bioeconomy,
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Redirecting supply-chain finance,
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Aligning fiscal policies with forest goals, and
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Leveraging sovereign-debt instruments to reward forest resilience.
Real-world examples already show the model at work. Guyana and Costa Rica are using carbon credit revenues to fund conservation and support Indigenous communities. Meanwhile, Kenya is scaling sustainable wood for construction, Brazil is expanding rural credit for climate-smart agriculture, and Uruguay has issued the first sovereign bond linked to deforestation.
Private sector announcements at the launch added weight to the effort, including a $4.5 billion commitment by the Brazil Restoration and Bioeconomy Finance Coalition.
With five years left to 2030, the Forest Finance Roadmap aims to demonstrate that protecting forests and driving economic growth are not competing goals, but mutually reinforcing solutions for a sustainable future.
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