Healthy forests, landscapes, and terrestrial ecosystems provide services that are critical for people and economies, such as biodiversity habitat, clean water, climate regulation, erosion prevention, crop pollination, soil fertility, and flood control. Deforestation and forest and land degradation, however, are threatening these ecosystem services and reducing the productivity of 23% of global land cover. Land degradation impacts an estimated 3.2 billion people worldwide, with 40% of the world’s poorest live on degraded land.

Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Indonesia share the challenge of reconciling economic growth in agriculture, timber, mining, and urban development, with protection of their forests and the services they deliver. Their common goals and challenges, despite very different contexts, leads to opportunities for collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Recognizing these opportunities, the World Bank facilitated a South-South knowledge exchange between Brazil, Indonesia and DRC in May 2023 to strengthen the knowledge and understanding of policy makers in the three countries to reduce deforestation and to build successful large-scale jurisdictional programs. The exchange also aimed to strengthen the professional ties among the three countries at national and sub-national levels.

Indonesia, Brazil, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) harbor the largest tropical forests in the world, representing over 50% of the world’s tropical forests and a significant portion of the world’s biodiversity. These large forests are threatened by commercial logging, mining, and illegal exploitation. In November 2021, the governments of Indonesia, Brazil, and DRC initiated a “Forest Power for Climate Actions” initiative at COP 26, followed by trilateral discussions in 2022 which include UNGA, COP27 and G20 meetings. The tripartite cooperation was formalized through a Joint Statement on “Tropical Forest for Climate and People” signed at a G20 side event on November 14, 2022. The current trilateral partnership is a pledge of cooperation rather than an agreement with specific pledges, targets, and actions.:

• Key Landscapes, Jurisdictions and Sectors: This activity initially focuses on the tropical forest area in Brazil (Mato Grosso state, others to be added), DRC (Mai-Ndombe province), and Indonesia (East Kalimantan and Jambi provinces). The three countries were among the top five countries for primary forest loss in 2021, with 11.1m hectares of tree cover lost in the tropics overall last year.
• Landscape Threats: Forest areas in Brazil, DRC, and Indonesia are vulnerable to land use change and climate change. Agricultural production, commercial logging, mining, illegal exploitation, and rapid urban growth can lead to encroachment of protected forests that trigger natural resource deterioration, loss of biodiversity acceleration, and ecosystem services reduction.
• Commitment to reduce deforestation: Brazil, DRC, and Indonesia have set ambitious deforestation goals for 2030 and beyond but the challenge in developing a new sustainable funding mechanism remains prevalent. Brazil's government had set a goal of zero deforestation by 2030 but will accelerate its timeline to reach a target of zero illegal logging by 2027 or 2028. DRC adopted its national REDD+ framework strategy in 2012, aiming to stabilize forest cover at 63.5% by 2030, and to maintain it thereafter. Indonesia aims to transform its forests into a carbon sink by 2030 by reducing deforestation and increasing reforestation and has experienced reduced deforestation in the past five years

Brazil was selected as the location of the knowledge exchange because the state of Mato Grosso has become one of the world's forerunners in implementing jurisdictional approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Central and subnational engagement on this topic can accelerate the growth of jurisdictional approaches in Brazil, DRC, and Indonesia. Through this knowledge exchange, participants aim at developing a community of practice to foster a large-scale jurisdictional approach in their respective countries.

The specific objectives of this knowledge exchange were to: 

• Strengthen knowledge and understanding of participants on national policies to reduce deforestation and to build successful large-scale jurisdictional programs to reduce deforestation, including the management of results-based payments for emission reductions and benefit-sharing mechanisms. 
• Strengthen the professional ties among Brazil, DRC, and Indonesia policy makers at national and sub-national levels. 

First, countries need a long-term vision for their forested landscapes to guide the institutions set up to protect forests. In Brazil, the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm) was launched in 2004. It aimed to continuously reduce deforestation rates and bring the conditions for a transition towards a sustainable development model in the region. The updated PPCDAm will be implemented by 13 ministries coordinated by the Office of the President and the Ministry of Environment, working across different organizations at all levels of the government (federal, state, and county) with substantial participation of civil society and local communities. The plan has four axes of actions, including sustainable production activities, monitoring and environmental control, land and territorial ordering, and economic and normative instruments.

Similarly in Indonesia, the government has committed to fostering forest and land use practices that on balance absorb more carbon than is emitted, by 2030. Known as the “FOLU net sink target,” this target is part of Indonesia’s Enhanced Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 32-43 percent relative to business as usual, by 2030. With FOLU net sink target, Indonesia has established an action plan that aim to reduce drivers of deforestation, implement sustainable forest management and increase restoration.

Second, realizing this vision will requires countries to value and monetize standing forests and their ecosystem services (carbon, biodiversity, and water). An example of this would be the emissions reduction payment in East Kalimantan province in Indonesia. With the Emissions Reduction Payment Agreement signed by Indonesia with the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility in 2020, Indonesia will receive up to US$110 million for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) in the East Kalimantan province, home to a wealth of biodiversity and supports indigenous and other local communities.

Similarly, with significant results of deforestation reduction already achieved, Brazil created a results-based payment mechanism in 2008 to receive non-reimbursable payments: the Amazon Fund. The fund is a pioneer REDD+ mechanism created to raise donations for non-reimbursable investments in efforts to prevent, monitor, and combat deforestation, and promote the preservation and sustainable use of the Brazilian Amazon. The Amazon Fund has just been relaunched, with significant new international pledges.

Third, a variety of institutions (national, subnational, government and non-government) must work together to achieve zero deforestation and productive landscapes. This is particularly apparent in the state-level emissions reduction program. When the delegation embarked on a journey to Cuiabá city and Alta Floresta municipality in Mato Grosso state, they learned about the Produce, Conserve and Include (PCI) Strategy, a jurisdictional approach initiative established in 2015 focusing on sustainable rural development, created in collaboration with actors from the public, private, and civil society organizations focusing on long-term sustainability goals for Mato Grosso.

In supporting and strengthening this jurisdictional approach, Mato Grosso was supported by various funding sources, one of which is the REDD for Early Movers or REM which was established in 2017 by development banks and financial institutions and has secured secured €44 million in funding. Further, a jurisdictional approach in Mato Grosso is also supported by the Instituto Centro Vida (ICV), a key PCI partner in leading transparency working groups. ICV, with its 30-year presence in Mato Grosso, plays a crucial role in discussing key performance indicators that evaluate the progress of the Jurisdictional Approach, making them publicly accessible. The delegation recognized the significance of transparency and disclosure for attracting resources and ensuring accountability for investors, policymakers, and consumers.

Indonesia

From Coordinating Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Investment

Assistant Deputy for Planning, Forestry and Environmental Management

Associate Policy Analyst, Assistant Deputy for Forestry Planning and Environmental Management

From Ministry of Environment and Forestry

Deputy Director of Monitoring for Mitigation Implementation

Policy Analyst Officer

From Indonesia Environment Funds (IEF/BPDLH)

President Director

Director for Fund Collection and Development  

Head of Finance and Accounting

From Government of East Kalimantan Province

Governor  

Provincial Secretary

Head of Regional Financial and Asset Management Agency

Special Staff for the Governor of East Kalimantan for Environment and Climate Change

Head of Economic Bureau  

Personal Secretary to the Governor of East Kalimantan

Aide de camp to the Governor of East Kalimantan

From Government of Jambi Province

Head of Jambi’s Development Planning Agency (Bappeda)

Head of Sub-National Project Management Unit (SNPMU) BioCF-ISFL

Head of Environmental Agency

Democratic Republic of Congo

From Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD)

State Minister

Climate Change Advisor

From Maï-Ndombe Province Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development

Provincial Minister

From National REDD+ Find (FONAREDD)

Executive Secretary

Coordinator

The World Bank played an active role throughout the knowledge exchange as a convener, trusted intermediary, technical advisor and financier. Through its team of staff and consultants, the Bank organized all the exchange activities.

Upon completing the knowledge exchange, the countries agreed to discuss common positions on critical topics such as forest carbon markets. The knowledge exchanges will continue in parallel. Indonesia extended an invitation to representatives from Brazil and the DRC to visit Indonesia, while the Minister of Environment from the DRC emphasized upcoming high-level meetings where the partnership would be further discussed. The World Bank is fully committed to supporting this initiative, including through a recently-approved PROGREEN grant to enhance knowledge and build capacity. The three largest tropical forest countries working together can lead to significant positive impact on their forest communities and to climate.

Government officials and policy makers from Indonesia and DRC were able to gain new learnings on improving forest carbon governance and sustainable financing to reduce deforestation from the sharing of experience. Going forward, the three countries agreed to start developing a profile on status of forest carbon policies and practice in Brazil, DRC, and Indonesia. This will allow these countries to identify points of convergence and divergence on their present and planned policies to deal with forest carbon.

Increased knowledge: The three countries agreed to strengthen the knowledge and capacity of national and sub-national actors on forest, peatland and mangroves management issues, including emerging topics such as tropical forests and mangroves restoration, silviculture of species native to tropical forests, bioeconomy value chains, and results-based finance for REDD+ and its implementation at jurisdictional (sub-national) levels.

Increased national cooperation: The government officials from Brazil, Indonesia, and DRC agreed to develop action plan to present the objectives, results, and activities for the partnership.

Increased intersectoral cooperation: The three countries deliberated on ways to strengthen policies and capacity of national and sub-national institutions to mobilize significant additional public and private financial resources for conservation, sustainable use, and restoration of tropical forests, from domestic and international sources.

Increased awareness (media and business): To increase awareness from business stakeholders, the three countries briefly discussed the possibility of conducting a Private Sector Forum. The goal is to promote private investments in forest bioeconomy value chains, and identify the most important policy barriers and investment gaps to leverage private investments at scale. It would bring national and international private investors in bioeconomy value chains. Each country would prepare a background paper on the status of bioeconomy and potential for investments.

The knowledge exchange activities were led by the World Bank.

The main beneficiaries were the projects in Brazil, Indonesia, and DRC (see learn more section).

World Bank Funded Projects in Brazil, Indonesia, and DRC:

Brazil

• DPF to the State of Amazonas (IBRD US$ 340 million)
• Carbon Finance Project with Banco do Brasil (IBRD US$ 500 million)
• Forest Investment Program in the Cerrado (4 projects on forest landscapes US$ 55 million)

DRC

• DRC Forest and Savanna Restoration Investment Program (IDA – 300M$)
• DRC Improved Forested Landscape Management Project (FIP, GEF, CAFI – 70M$, on-going)
• Forest Dependent Communities Support Project (DGM, CAFI – 8M$, on-going)
• Mai Ndombe ER Program (FCPF – 55M$, on-going)
• Support to the Operationalization of the ERPA (PROGREEN – 5M$, on-going)
• DPO Series on DRC Foundational Economic Governance Reforms (250M$ FY22 + 250M$ FY23) (Pillar 3 on Strengthening governance for sustainable forestry)

Indonesia

• Mangroves for Coastal Resilience (M4CR) (IBRD US$ 400 million and SLMP MDTF US$ 19 million(
• Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) in East Kalimantan  (US$ 110 million)
• The BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (BioCF ISFL) in Jambi (US$ 85 million)
• One Map / Acceleration of Agrarian Reform (IBRD US$ 200 million)
• Sustainable Landscapes Management (SLM) MDTF (US$ 34.6 million)
• Partnership for Market Implementation (PMI) (US$ 5 million)
• Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration (FOLUR) (US$ 345 million)