Overview Principal Office: USA Key Words: tropical forests, biodiversity conservation, debt relief Website: Link Launched in 1998, the Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA) is a program of the U.S. Government to support forest conservation and debt relief in eligible developing countries. Each participating developing country signs a bilateral agreement with the U.S. Government to fund forest conservation using that country’s currency, usually through local foundations that make grants to civil society organizations and communities. In exchange, the USA writes off a negotiated share of that country’s dollar debt, according to different options. – Link The TFCA is a mechanism to encourage public-private partnerships for conservation in the participating countries. Moreover, the program leverages co-financing contributions by conservation NGOs in the USA and in some of the TFCA’s recipient countries. Grant Programs for Agriculture, Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources Tropical Forest Conservation. The TFCA helps fund the establishment and management of protected areas; practices for land and ecosystem management; actions for biodiversity conservation; ethnobotanical research; scientific and technical conservation training; and community enterprises based on forests and forest products. -- Link To be eligible for participation in the TFCA, a developing country must have tropical forests; owe the U.S. Government qualifying debt; and meet certain political and economic criteria. – Link APPLICATION: Agreements under the TFCA are negotiated government to government, beginning with a letter from the finance ministry of the applying country to the U.S. Treasury. The application is jointly reviewed by the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. State Department. For countries declared eligible, the U.S. Treasury notifies the finance ministry of the applying country in order to discuss options for debt treatment. About how to apply. -- Link Geographical Distribution of Grant Activities in Developing Countries Worldwide Note: To date, the following countries have signed agreements with the TFCA -- Bangladesh, Belize, Botswana, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Philippines. Comments The TFCA is coordinated among the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Note: The Terra Viva Grants Directory offers a separate profile of USAID – Link As of December 2011, the TFCA had concluded 18 debt treatment agreements with 14 countries. These agreements are expected to generate the equivalent of US$295 million for tropical forest conservation over the payment period of the agreements. The Enterprise Initiative of the Americas (EIA) is a program related to the TFCA, but EIA does not undertake new agreements due to a lack of recent funding. – Link The TFCA has helped stimulate the establishment of new grant-making organizations, or strengthen existing ones, in the countries where it operates. They include the following:
Last Profile Review February 2012 © Copyright protected. All rights reserved. Return to Government Organizations |
|
|
U.S. Tropical Forest Conservation Act |