Approximately 1.3 billion people worldwide rely directly on tropical forests for their survival, while countless others depend indirectly on the ecosystem services and products these forests offer. Tropical forests yield diverse economic resources, including timber, medicines, and food – which have the potential to develop local, sustainable and inclusive value chains. Indigenous communities and other forest-dependent groups have demonstrated remarkable knowledge in sustainable forest management, meeting their subsistence needs without causing harm to the forests.

However, forest investment is well below what is required. According to UNEP (2021), financing for the forestry sector development needs to increase threefold by 2030 and fourfold by 2050 if the world is to meet its climate, biodiversity and land degradation targets.

Join us to explore the opportunities and challenges in the development and scaling of financial services for forestry value chains. Insights will be shared by ADA, the Luxembourg’s Forestry and Climate Change Fund (FCCF) and Inkunga Finance, a microfinance institution partnering with ADA in the frame of its recently launched forestry value chain programme. This programme aims to generate a positive impact for Smallholder farmers and small-scale land- and forest owners to secure their income and livelihood by leveraging on the sustainable management of trees and the resources and services they provide.