Embargoed Press Room: COP30 | Delivering Finance and Land Rights to Forest Peoples

Media Contacts

Abubakr Uqdah (EDT, Washington, D.C.) [email protected] +1 202 553-0314
Andrea Rodriguez (EDT, Bolivia) [email protected] +591 762 733 393

Embargoed Report: The Importance of Protected Areas in Reducing Jurisdictional Deforestation in the Legal Amazon

Media Briefing

Spokespeople

To schedule an interview with the following spokespeople, please contact Abubakr Uqdah ([email protected]).

  • Kleber Karipuna is an Indigenous leader of the Karipuna people from Amapá. Kleber is one of the Executive Coordinators of the Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), representing the Brazilian Amazon through the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB). Kleber is also Co-Chair to the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities. 

  • Denildo “Bico” Rodrigues de Moraes is an environmental manager, social activist, and executive coordinator of the National Coordination of Black Rural Quilombola Communities (CONAQ), one of Brazil's leading organizations defending the rights of quilombola communities. Working with family farming, Biko has been a fundamental voice in the struggle for territorial, social, and cultural rights of quilombola populations, advocating for land regularization, preservation of Afro-Brazilian traditions and promotion of sustainable family farming in Black rural communities.

  • Hege Ragnhildstveit (speaking on background) is Policy Director at Norway's International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI) with over 20 years of experience in rainforest protection, forest governance, Indigenous Peoples' rights, and deforestation-free supply chains. She has been part of negotiations among governments and philanthropies to achieve greater support for the land rights and access to climate finance for frontline communities.

    • Please note: Hege Ragnhildstveit is speaking on background to brief reporters and is not to be quoted. If you require an on-the-record quote from the Government of Norway, she can connect you with the climate and environment minister’s office.

  • Steve Schwartzman is Associate Vice President for Tropical Forests at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), leading work on economic incentives for large-scale forest protection. For more than 30 years, he has worked in the Brazilian Amazon with Indigenous communities, governments, and the private sector to reduce deforestation. 

Additional Resources

  • Explainer: COP30 Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment

  • The Forest Tenure Funders Group 2024 Report
     The latest Forest Tenure Funders Group 2024 Report tracks progress on the COP26 Forest Tenure Pledge—originally a US$1.7 billion commitment to support Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPs and LCs) in protecting tropical forests. The report shows signatories exceeded their pledge, mobilizing US$1.8 billion to strengthen collective land rights and forest protection globally. In 2024, 37% of funds supported forest and community enterprises and 31% advanced land rights security. However, only 7.6% of total funds reached IPs and LCs directly, with most channeled through NGOs and multilateral intermediaries.
      Read the full report

  • Afro-descendant Lands in South America Contribute to Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Change Mitigation
     A peer-reviewed study in Nature Communications Earth and Environment reveals that Afro-descendant communities across Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Suriname are crucial stewards of biodiversity and climate stability. Managing 9.9 million hectares, these communities achieve up to 55% lower deforestation rates compared to surrounding areas and protect lands with some of the highest global concentrations of biodiversity and irrecoverable carbon, amounting to 486 million tonnes collectively.
      Read the study

  • Forest Declaration Assessment 2025
     The Forest Declaration Assessment 2025 warns that the world is 63% off track to meet its goal of ending deforestation by 2030. In 2024 alone, 8.1 million hectares of forest were lost, an area the size of Panama, surpassing sustainable limits by 3.1 million hectares. Fires devastated 6.73 million hectares of tropical forests across Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, releasing 3.1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases, equivalent to 150% of annual U.S. energy sector emissions. The report calls for urgent financial reform and bold forest protection commitments ahead of COP30 in Belém, Brazil.
      Read the full assessment