$46 million to safeguard Cameroon's permanent forests — a quarter of the country

Cameroon's permanent forests cover 12.6 million hectares — more than a quarter of the country — and more than 2.3 million people live in and around them, depending on the trees for food, fuel and income. A new $46 million initiative, approved by the Green Climate Fund board, will protect and restore three of those forest estates over seven years: the Fund provides a $29.7 million grant, with Cameroon's government and the IUCN, which will run the project with the forestry ministry, adding co-financing. Between 2001 and 2024 Cameroon lost 2.2 million hectares of forest, nearly half of it primary forest. This programme is built to bend that curve — cutting emissions from deforestation while helping forest communities adapt as temperatures rise and rainfall turns more extreme.

SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: funding & finance