Five Takeaways from COP30: A Q&A with Winrock Ecosystem Services Director Julie Nash
At COP30 in Belém, Brazil, Julie Nash, Winrock International’s director of Ecosystem Services, joined a team of Winrock leaders and experts engaging with governments, Indigenous peoples and local communities, philanthropies and civil society partners. Hosted in the heart of the Amazon, the event featured an implementation-driven agenda and a program of thematic days spanning energy, nature, food systems, cities and water, people and crosscutting issues. We asked Julie for a few of her top takeaways after returning from the annual conference.
You moderated a panel at COP30 titled “Nature Makes Sense: Reforestation for Climate, Communities and Capital.” What were the key themes of that discussion, and why was it important for Winrock to lead this conversation?
Our panel focused on the “triple win” of climate, communities and capital — showing that forest conservation and reforestation are not simply about planting trees, but about creating resilient ecosystems, empowering local communities and unlocking innovative financing that drives sustainable growth. The conversation drew on diverse perspectives across the ecosystem: government leadership and policy direction; on-the-ground implementation; civil society and philanthropy; and financial institutions that can scale investment, reflecting COP30’s emphasis on delivery, inclusion and innovation across its thematic days.
We brought together voices including Dr. Joseph Appiah of the Ghana Forestry Commission; Damien Kuhn, vice president of forestry at Terraformation; Frederico Soares Machado of the Institute for Climate and Society (land use, food systems, forest restoration and bioeconomy); and Leonardo Fleck, who articulated the investment case for reforestation and nature-positive portfolios. The speakers’ affiliations and themes aligned well with COP30’s official framing around forests, the bioeconomy and investment.
For Winrock, this dialogue sits squarely in our sweet spot: building more resilient rural communities, stronger environmental ecosystems and effective climate mitigation. Our role was to connect these threads — locally led approaches, partnership models, and fit-for-purpose finance — to show how reforestation becomes a durable solution for people and landscapes, echoing the COP30 Presidency’s call to move from negotiation to implementation.
Forests were front and center at COP30 in a way they were not a decade ago. What drove this shift, and why are forests now recognized as essential in the global climate strategy?
COP30 was widely recognized as the “Forest COP,” and the setting in the Amazon made nature impossible to ignore. Rain, heat and humidity shaped the experience and even disrupted sessions, underscoring how climate impacts manifest in real time.
A decade ago, forests were treated as a complementary element of climate mitigation rather than a central strategy. That began to change with the Paris Agreement, which explicitly recognized the role of forests and other ecosystems in achieving net zero emissions. The real inflection point came in 2021 with the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, when more than 140 countries committed to halting and reversing forest loss by 2030 — backed, critically, by both public and private finance.
Since then, advances in measurement, transparency and carbon markets, combined with mounting evidence that forest loss is a major driver of global emissions, have shifted forests from the margins to the center of climate strategy. Today, policy and capital are aligning with what science has long shown: Forests are one of the most immediate, scalable opportunities we have to mitigate climate change while delivering benefits for biodiversity, livelihoods and resilience.
Stepping back, there’s a clear arc to how forests have evolved within the COP process:
- Paris outlined the issues and built an aspirational framework — recognizing forests in the architecture of net zero and setting a direction for conserving and enhancing natural sinks.
- Glasgow translated that vision into commitments, with unprecedented political alignment and pledges to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030, alongside meaningful signals from public and private finance.
- Belém (COP30) surfaced a groundswell of implementation lessons — from jurisdictional approaches and higher‑integrity market mechanisms to stronger Indigenous leadership, better MRV [measurement, reporting and verification], and clearer pathways for aligning domestic policy with finance.
That progression from aspiration to commitment to practical know‑how is what makes this moment encouraging. We’re no longer debating whether forests matter; we’re learning how to make forest solutions work at scale, with integrity and impact. Winrock has long recognized this, of course, and it’s heartening to see so many others — governments, corporates, philanthropies, and other mission-driven organizations — embracing the evidence and taking action.
Healthy forests are critical for biodiversity and resilience. How did these connections shape COP30?
COP30 organized thematic days aligned with six “action agenda axes:” Energy, Industry & Transport; Forests, Oceans & Biodiversity; Agriculture & Food Systems; Cities, Infrastructure & Water; Human and Social Development; and Crosscutting issues. These days included programmed content across both the Blue Zone (the tightly controlled area where government and U.N. officials conduct negotiations) and the Green Zone, which is a more accessible space with exhibits, events and workshops. Forests emerged as a crosscutting theme, not confined to the two Forests/Oceans/Biodiversity days.
The number of country pavilion sessions that were centered on forests and their role in meeting national targets was striking, and for me, it signaled a shift from high-level commitments to implementation, including important “how-to” discussions focused on finance, governance and measurable outcomes. For Winrock, that evolution of the global dialogue on forests validates our systems approach — advancing locally led solutions that deliver biodiversity gains, climate resilience and community benefits, supported by credible partnerships and diverse funders.
What is the most significant lesson or observation you brought back from COP30?
At this COP it was great to see important dialogue on Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs for short) engagement moving beyond consultation to emphasize authentic, shared ownership of reforestation, ensuring that Indigenous communities are actively, fully engaged, integral partners in the long-term success of reforestation efforts. We saw new commitments for IPLC land rights and finance, including the Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment to recognize and strengthen land tenure on around 160 million hectares by 2030, alongside a renewed $1.8 billion Forest & Land Tenure Pledge.
Independent coverage and analyses underscored the significance of these pledges and the historic level of Indigenous participation at COP30, while also noting the work ahead to translate commitments into transparent, accountable implementation. For Winrock, it reinforces our approach: center local leadership, codesign with communities and pair social safeguards with clear economic incentives — the foundation for resilience for people and nature.
Winrock has decades of experience in forest valuation and ecosystem services. How does that expertise position us to help countries and partners move from bold commitments to credible, transparent implementation?
A central theme at COP30 was linking economic incentives to ecosystem services, with particular focus on the bioeconomy — the sustainable production and use of renewable biological resources (food, energy, materials, products) to reduce fossil fuel dependence. Many discussions highlighted promising pilots worldwide, but the urgent need is transitioning from pilots to largescale implementation.
That’s where Winrock excels. We combine technical rigor (forest valuation, carbon accounting, jurisdictional approaches) with practical delivery: locally led partnerships, fit-for-market finance, cooperative capacity building, and transparent monitoring and reporting — aligned with the Paris Agreement’s explicit recognition of forests’ role and the global push to operationalize REDD+ frameworks. We work across diverse partner networks and funders — from governments and multilaterals to philanthropy and private investors — to scale strategies that are socially legitimate, ecologically sound, and economically viable.
In short, we help move commitments from the page to the landscape. We do that at scale, with integrity, and for the long term.
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