| Dear Friends,
I am proud to share with you our 2024 Impact Report. In it, you can read about the “Rainbow of Solutions” we’re building for climate, including achievements this past year, stories of change, progress, and some hope for the future.
I find myself reflecting on the journey we’ve been on over the last 25 years at Forest Trends. In some ways, Forest Trends and the community have made great progress. Just last week, for instance, I returned from Baja California, Mexico, where we with our Peruvian project partners met with representatives of the public, private, and civil society sectors of the Baja States to discuss lessons from Peru that can be mirrored or scaled in other countries facing water crises, like Mexico. This South-to-South exchange really worked and shows the way to a true global transformation when it comes to water security.
In other ways, we are still boxed into an economic system that puts us on a dead-end path — extracting natural resources like there’s no tomorrow, taking faster than natural resources can be replenished, and leaving little for future generations who will also depend on a healthy planet. We need to shift to a new way of doing things. When it comes to the economy and nature, the relationship needs to shift to one of synergy, not extraction.
We know how to do this. We’ve spent the last 25 years experimenting and demonstrating, building a global network, and sharing models that align economies with the power of nature to address the daunting challenges of climate change, water shortages, and the staggering loss of biodiversity. Now more than ever, our mission remains clear and increasingly important. Our approach of building coalitions of unusual actors, from communities to businesses to civil society and governments, is again validated in these politically unstable times. |
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| Your generous support helps increase the impact of our programs, working with indigenous communities to restore the forests in the Amazon, supporting local communities practicing sustainable agriculture in the Mekong, or conserving water with small farmers in the Peruvian Andes. You may learn more about our work or give online at forest-trends.org.
Addressing climate change is both a sprint and a marathon, especially now. I like to think about this moment in time like the Tour de France race — a most famous test of endurance and determination. During the race, the hardest part is a grueling, uphill climb in the mountains. In 2024, we’ve reached this part of the race. But that does not call for despair. Now is the time to keep peddling, to double and triple down on our efforts, and to take advantage of the many incredible opportunities we do have to make real progress on climate change. Only then will we make it out of the mountains.
I am thrilled by all Forest Trends achieved in 2024. I am even more energized by what we can all do together in 2025 to grow and expand the rainbow of solutions we have at our disposal to address the climate crisis. Delay is not an option. What we have seen over and over in the course of 25 years is that when we build up and respect the real value of nature — where the default relationship is synergy, not extraction — we are all better off. The next several years give us a chance for economic/nature alignment at a scale not possible until now. We need to make the most of this opportunity. This work matters now more than ever.
Wishing you all well this holiday season and New Year,
Michael |
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We’re building trust and transparency.
We are increasing transparency, accountability, and integrity in the economic instruments driving value to nature.
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| Mapping Brazil nut groves in the Sete de Setembro indigenous territory, Rondônia, Brazil as part of the Our Forest, Our Home project. |
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Public access to the world’s largest database of global voluntary carbon market transactions
Ecosystem Marketplace launched a public version of the Global Carbon Markets Hub ahead of New York Climate Week in September to improve access to carbon markets information for communities, smaller market players, and the general public. Looking forward, we’re especially focused on making sure that indigenous and traditional communities have the information they need to navigate opportunities in carbon. EM is the world’s biggest repository of data on the voluntary carbon market and one of the few that are non-profit.
De-risking global commodity trade flows
Our public-access data dashboards on the risk of trade in illegal timber and forest-risk commodities are used by the US Department of Justice for training enforcement officials in Cameroon, Gabon, Vietnam, India, and Mozambique. They have also become a resource for other government and nongovernmental agencies in their work.
Read more about how we’re building trust and transparency.
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“For years, Ecosystem Marketplace has provided transparent, high-quality, and reliable data, providing visibility into fundamental market issues for project developers’ decision-making and growth. It is crucial, especially nowadays, to disseminate substantiated and trustworthy data regarding the carbon markets to raise awareness of the value and potential (and urgency!) of nature-based solutions developments to fight climate change.”
– María Alejandra Cantuarias, Head of Carbon Business, Bosques Amazónicos and EM Carbon Survey Respondent
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We’re ensuring a nature-positive economy is just.
We can design the new green economy to be a vehicle for climate justice, especially for the indigenous, traditional, and rural communities who steward nature despite tremendous opposing pressures.
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| Women participants in a pilot native plant nursery business in Moquegua, Peru, as part of the Natural Infrastructure for Water Security Project. |
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Training indigenous peoples on entrepreneurial skills
354 people from indigenous territories in Brazil were trained in entrepreneurial skills that can be applied to sustainable livelihoods, like artisan work and Brazil nut production. This project helps revive ancestral techniques and improve production, business management, and governance practices. Over half of those trained were women.
More water rights allocations to women in Peru
In March, Peru’s National Water Authority (ANA) approved a new protocol that will increase water rights allocations to women. The protocol was developed with our support as part of the Natural Infrastructure for Water Security Project, and as part of a larger process that started in 2019 to mainstream gender at ANA. The protocol stipulates that if the water rightsholders are married or cohabitating, the license for water rights must be granted to both people. Before the protocol, only 3 in 10 water user rights were allocated to women. Accessing these rights will create more economic and decision-making opportunities for women, like at water user rights groups.
Read more about our partnerships with communities to ensure a just economy.
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We’re driving value to nature.
We are creating the enabling policy and market conditions for transformative, ongoing investments in our planet’s “natural infrastructure” — ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, and grasslands — that are critical to water security, biodiversity, climate stability, and carbon storage.
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| A restoration project supported by the Natural Infrastructure for Water Security Project in the Asana watershed, Peru. This photo was selected as a winner in USAID’s Water-Secure World Photo Contest. |
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Groundbreaking methodology to conserve biodiversity
Associação Sociocultural Yawanawá, along with Wildlife Works and Forest Trends, launched a pioneering new tool to deliver indigenous-centered conservation finance, called Biodiversity Stewardship Units (BDSUs). The methodology was co-designed with indigenous peoples, and funding will go directly to the forest stewards of critical landscapes and biodiversity.
Mobilizing investments in nature
Over $373 million in natural infrastructure investments are supported by Forest Trends and our partners through the Natural Infrastructure for Water Security Project (NIWS) in Peru across all stages: project development, funding mobilization, and implementation on the ground. To date, the NIWS project has mobilized $39 million in investments in nature.
Read more about how we’re enabling transformative investments in nature.
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“As trusted partners, we co-created with Wildlife Works and Forest Trends over two years to build the BDSU (Biodiversity Stewardship Units) Methodology. We firmly believe that BDSUs offer the most effective financing mechanism to bring the recognition, respect, and sustainable finance indigenous peoples need to continue conserving their forests under growing threats.”
– Chief Tashka Yawanawá, Associação Sociocultural Yawanawá
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