Meet us at events

Summary of our engagement

Our team exchanged knowledge, established new partnerships, and highlighted the central role of tropical forests in the interaction between climate, biodiversity, and local communities.
The conference provided valuable impetus for our future work and the international dialogue on the protection of tropical forests.

Looking ahead

With these experiences, we are now looking ahead: we will continue to actively advocate for the protection of tropical forests and a socially just climate policy at future world climate conferences – especially with a view to the upcoming COP.

Related events we contributed to

Event 1: Achieving equitable finance for food systems transformation and rights-based climate action

• Location & time: Belém, Room 5, 15:00 to 16:30 BRT (Belém time) / 19:00 to 20:30 CET

• Core message: Locally-led food systems transformation is a climate solution that delivers on the right to food, healthy ecosystems and improved livelihoods.

• Focus: Innovative solutions from Asia and Latin America will show that finance needs to be accessible and organized fairly along the entire value chain.

• Co-organizers: Welthungerhilfe, Instituto Escolhas, Cesvi

Event 2: Watching the TFFF unfold: Navigating the Future of Forests and Finance (20.11.2025)

• Date & time: 20.11.2025 | 3–4 pm (BRT) | Belém & online

• Location: German Pavilion, COP30 Blue Zone, 3pm to 4pm BRT (Belém time) / 19:00 to 20:00 CET

• Online: Via livestream

• Context: As we expect the TFFF to be launched at the High-Level Segment before the COP, the event will focus on next steps and how implementation has to look like.

• Focus areas:

  • Given the venue for this event, the role of sponsor countries will be particularly in focus.

  • There are still many open questions with regards to how the TFFF works and ways on how it can be improved.

  • The role of board members is considered in ensuring an ambitious implementation.

  • The event will close by looking ahead and considering additional ways in which states are to protect biodiversity and forests and honour their commitment from Glasgow to reach zero deforestation by 2030.

• Introductory Remarks:

  • Brazilian TFFF Secretariat / Ministry of the Environment – André Aquino (Representative joins the Panel)

  • Indigenous Perspective / IP Organization Representative (Representative joins the Panel)

  • Moderator outlines open questions and concerns with regards to the Facility.

• Panel:

  • Representative from NICFI / Norwegian Government (Potential Sponsor Country + board member)

  • German representation: Heike Henn, High-Level BMZ/BMF representation (Potential Sponsor Country + board member)

  • Finance Expert (CSO)

  • CAN Ecosystems WG Representative / Finance WG Representative

• Co-organizers:

  • Plant-for-the-Planet, Rainforest Foundation Norway, Germanwatch, EarthInsight (tbc), WWF (tbc)

OroVerde was at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP16) in Cali, Colombia, where it presented current projects and explored synergies with other initiatives and stakeholders. The CBD represented a global platform to discuss the importance of biodiversity conservation, restoration and finance, and therefore held great potential for politics, the private sector and international cooperation to move towards a better future.

OroVerde was represented by Torsten Klimpel and Laura Krings, both from the international projects team of OroVerde, who worked in the IKI-funded project BIOFINCAS.

• OroVerde spoke at the following official side events:
  "Agricultural financing: The key to saving our biodiversity", Torsten Klimpel, 25.10.2024 (7th GLF - Investment Case Symposium, Museo La Tertulia)
• „Accelerate finance for biodiversity in the agricultural sector“, Torsten Klimpel, 28.10.2024 (En la Universidad ECCI, Lobby Teatro)
• „Biodiversity and gender: a joint call for action“, Laura Krings, 31.10.2024 (Banco de Bogotá, Sala 1)

On December 3, 2023, OroVerde, ProNatura Mexico, and Fundación Defensores de la Naturaleza organized a UN side event to discuss finance solutions for local climate change adaptation. The event highlighted key lessons from Mesoamerican projects, including GreenWatersheds and ForestValues, which successfully united governments, civil society, and the private sector to establish funding mechanisms. As Anique Hillbrand of OroVerde emphasized, the focus was on creating a global community committed to ecosystem protection, with local action at the core.

Speakers included Andrea Fión Góngora (Ministry of Environment, Guatemala), Kathy Gregoire and Regina Cornish (ProNatura Mexico), Larry Paul (Heifer International Guatemala), and representatives from OroVerde. You can watch the whole event here: https://youtu.be/pn-FWMSunKo

At a related event on December 9, 2023, OroVerde contributed to a panel at the Spanish Pavilion, discussing the EU’s new deforestation regulation. Anique Hillbrand highlighted the importance of involving producer countries and small-scale producers in the implementation of this regulation. The panel featured officials from the European Commission, Spanish Chamber of Commerce, and various environmental organizations.

Johannes Horstmann spoke on „Ecosystem-based Adaption in vulnerable rural communities – Experiences from Haiti, Cuba, and the DR“.

The presentation highlighted the huge potential of Ecosystem-based Adaption (EbA) in the face of the climate crisis and pointed out the importance of implementing EbA strategies on a broad basis. Further, our team pointed out the vulnerability of Caribbean ecosystems and ideas for necessary adaption methods by relating to experiences from the project Resilient Caribbean Communities – a project carried out by OroVerde, Welthungerhilfe and five local partner organisations.

In addition to OroVerde, the event was enriched by contributions of other high-ranking panel holders. You can watch the whole side event here: https://youtu.be/BNYSQ1bmovU

While few decisions concerning the causes of the climate crisis were made, a positive conclusion of the COP27 conference was the agreement on implementing a Loss and Damage Fond. OroVerde as well as other organisations have high hopes for more productive outcomes of COP 28 that combat the root cause of climate change.

At COP 26, OroVerde advocated for a radical reduction in global CO2 emissions and the rapid implementation of climate action plans.

Anique Hillbrand, Torsten Klimpel and Ineke Naendrup represented OroVerde at COP 26 and spoke on various panels. Referring to the Green Watersheds project implemented by OroVerde and four local organisations, OroVerde highlighted the need for ecosystem-based adaptation to the impacts of climate change. The need for functional warning systems was also raised.

The aim of COP 26 in Glasgow was to encourage the represented nations to develop climate protection strategies to reduce emissions by 2030 in order to comply with the Paris Climate Agreement.
Milestones of COP26 in Glasgow were the commitment of 145 countries to not only stop deforestation and erosion, but to reverse it as effectively as possible, and the agreement to double financial resources for adaptation to climate change.

At the 7th EbA Community of Practice Workshop on November 23rd, our team members Ineke Naendrup, Jonas Rüger, Kathrin Toepfer and Mauricio Santamaria spoke on “Green Watersheds - Connecting practical EbA-experiences to promote upscaling through cooperative governance and finance mechanisms”.

In this “fireside talk”, our team members shared experiences with ecosystem-based adaptation strategies from our Green Watersheds project, implemented by OroVerde and four local organisations in Mexico, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. The presentation was followed by a productive discussion between the auditors and the speakers.

The goal of the workshop was to not only exchange knowledge but also to engage other public and private stakeholders to accelerate the implementation of ecosystem-based adaptation through both governance and financial structures.

At the World Congress on Agroforestry in Québec, Laura Krings from OroVerde and Gerson Coy from Heifer Guatemala presented on "Nature-positive supply chains for forest restoration through agroforestry systems".

The congress was an opportunity for farmers, scientists as well as politicians to exchange knowledge about sustainable farming methods. In the context of numerous conservation projects, OroVerde has been implementing agroforestry. Our delegation introduced OroVerde’s Forest Values project in Guatemala, which aims to establish deforestation-free value chains.

Together with five other penalists from other international NGOs, our colleague Johannes Horstmann presented on "Strengthening the Race to Resilience campaign to work for climate, nature and people" on June 13th. The panel discussed different approaches to environment-based adaptations (EbA) to combat the consequences of climate change. In his presentation, Johannes Horstmann gave examples of effective EbA-strategies from two OroVerde projects: Green Watersheds, which is implemented together with four local organisations in Mexico, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Cuba and Resilient Caribbean Communities, which is carried out by OroVerde, Welthungerhilfe and five local partner organisations in Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.  

Other contributions by panelists from the WWF and ZSL also offered enlightening insights into their own projects. Watch the whole event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZPJG-9BLAw 

While providing space for exchanging knowledge and experiences, the panel also highlighting the need for the swift implementation of effective EbA-strategies in the areas most affected by climate change.