Leveraging forest finance for impact in Asia–Pacific

ITTO joined other partners and participants in the Asia-Pacific to highlight opportunities and challenges in mobilizing and leveraging forest finance during the Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop on Forest Financing. © UNFF

The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) joined other partners and participants in the region to highlight the opportunities and challenges in mobilizing and leveraging forest finance during the Asia–Pacific Regional Workshop on Forest Financing, hosted by the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) from 20 to 23 January 2026 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Strengthening access to forest finance

The workshop aimed to strengthen participants' understanding of the global forest financing landscape and new funding opportunities offered by multilateral, bilateral, and private financing mechanisms.  The workshop drew country representatives from the Asia-Pacific region, as well as representatives from the World Bank, Green Climate Fund, Global Environment Facility, Asian Development Bank, UN Food and Agriculture Organization, UN Environment Programme, IUCN, Forest Carbon Leadership Programme, BIOFIN, and the private sector.

ITTO Executive Director Sheam Satkuru spoke during the opening session, highlighting the more urgent than ever need for forest financing. She expressed disappointment at the minimal amount of climate financing for forests compared to other sectors, despite its numerous contributions to climate mitigation and adaptation, ecosystem services, people’s livelihoods, and countries' economic development.  

“Forest finance must work for people, nature and climate at the same time,” said Ms Satkuru.

She attributed the funding disparity partly to the fragmented way forests are addressed at the international policy level.  Ms Satkuru also noted the proliferation of actors involved in forest issues over the past three decades, which has led to competition, duplication of efforts and further fragmentation of forest financing rather than partnership and efficiency.

ITTO’s approach to leveraging forest finance

On the second day of the workshop, Ms Satkuru, together with Jennifer Conje, ITTO Director of Forest Management, presented “Leveraging forest finance for impact.” Ms Satkuru outlined how ITTO combines policy guidance, field projects, data and statistics, and capacity building to catalyze sustainable forest management and mobilize additional financing.

ITTO presented several project examples, showcasing how forest finance can deliver tangible livelihood benefits while conserving forest resources.

In Indonesia, an ITTO project strengthened management planning for the legal and sustainable collection of NTFPs and built the capacities of community-based small-scale enterprises.  The project supported income generation opportunities for local communities while preventing further degradation of nearby protected areas. The national government later leveraged project outcomes by investing in raising local authorities’ capacity to issue necessary permits for harvesting, incubating businesses, and providing grants to universities for workshops and the production of training materials. In addition, the Central Bank of Indonesia introduced low-interest loans to community cooperatives.   

“This case study showed the importance of how domestic public and private financing can build on an investment made by international public finance to ensure an enabling environment for communities to generate sustainable incomes for themselves, with benefits back to the environment,” said Ms Conje.

Participants also watched a video about an ITTO-supported microcredit scheme in a province of Cambodia. The project provides low‑interest loans for livelihood activities that do not harm forests and, with the revenue generated, enables payments for community monitoring and protection of their forests.  

Another ITTO example focused on improving access to markets for teak and other high‑value timber produced by smallholders. The initiative seeks to reduce barriers to market access by improving primary processing and exploring innovative financing approaches, such as using standing trees as collateral. This approach supports smallholders in meeting short-term cash needs to extend harvesting cycles and lays a foundation for climate‑positive, scalable investment.

Collaboration and catalytic finance

The presentation also highlighted ITTO’s partnerships on the work of forest financing, including a joint ITTO–FAO policy brief underscoring compensating forest stewards in PES schemes;  organization of an expert workshop on the development of a World Bank publication focused on fiscal reforms that could positively influence forest conservation and management; and a new joint collaboration initiative with AFoCO, which aims to advance nature‑based climate solutions through community‑based timber and forestry enterprises. 

Ms Satkuru highlighted that ITTO projects have often played a catalytic role in forest finance. In several countries, relatively small ITTO investments—sometimes under USD 1.2 million—have unlocked significantly larger follow‑on funding from sources such as the Global Environment Facility, the World Bank, development banks, national governments and private‑sector partners.

“ITTO’s role is to support countries turn policy ambitions into practical, bankable actions on the ground, using targeted investments that can unlock larger flows of finance and deliver lasting impact for member countries and forest-dependent communities”, explained Ms Satkuru.