Tropical Forests Need Redesign, Not Just Protection for COP30

As world leaders prepare for COP30 climate talks, where tropical forests will take center stage, experts are calling for a fundamental shift from simply fighting deforestation to actively redesigning forest protection systems. Last year alone, fires destroyed over three million hectares of tropical primary forest, primarily in South America, highlighting the urgent need for structural solutions beyond emergency response.

The root causes of forest destruction remain deeply embedded in broken systems: fragmented governance, easy financing for land clearing, and markets that reward environmental destruction over conservation. Climate factors like drought and El Niño certainly contributed to recent losses, but these underlying structural weaknesses continue to drive the crisis forward.

The solution may lie with those already doing the work. More than one-third of the world’s intact forests exist on Indigenous and community lands, where deforestation rates typically plummet when land rights are officially recognized. The reason is straightforward: people with secure land ownership have strong incentives to manage resources sustainably for future generations.

However, most community lands in tropical regions still lack legal title, creating a critical vulnerability. While recognition processes move slowly through bureaucratic channels, investors and land speculators often advance rapidly to claim territory. Accelerating the legal transfer of land rights to Indigenous and local communities represents a powerful first step toward structural reform. This means fixing broken land registries, clearly mapping ownership, and granting legal title to communities who have been effective forest guardians for generations.