Forest Action Facility
Who is FAF?
FAF is a platform to promote Forest Landscape Restoration FLR activities through open calls for proposal. It provides funding for degraded tropical forests to be restored for the benefit of the people locally and globally through kickstarting action on the ground supporting Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.
FAF was established by KfW and IUCN as a Company Limited by Guarantee under English law in December 2024 with a registered office in London. In July 2025 FAF was registered by the Charity Commission.
FAF‘s work contributes to biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and to increase resilience of rural populations promoting the following initiatives.
FAF’s Targets and Procedure
Quality assurance
- Open calls for proposals inviting national and international civil society and private sector actors, in cooperation with national and local authorities.
- Two step application process (concept notes and full proposals)
- Process in close collaboration with national authorities and their priorities
- Integration of local stakeholders and communities through consultation process and representation in committee
- Landscape level monitoring system (portfolio and project)
- Proper use through audit system on three levels
What makes FAF unique
- Scalability as open platform to expand its scope through contributions from other actors
- Flexibility through handling of different financing windows and adaptability to local/national circumstances
- Promotion of Private Sector Engagement
Milestones for 2025 and Beyond
FAF invites other actors in development cooperation sector or from the public and private sectors, such as governments, foundations and companies, to grow and expand its area of intervention. Possible specific approaches or additional participation structures emphasize its flexibility.
- Incorporation as Company Limited by Guarantee December 2024
- Recognition as Charity by the Charity Commission July 2025
- Signing of financing contract for Central America July 2025
- Launch event at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi, October 2025
- Signing of financing contract for Ecuador October 2025
- Registered with HMRC January 2026
- Set-up of Technical Advisory Committee Ecuador June 2026
- Hiring a CEO August 2026
- Launch of the first open call in Ecuador October 2026
- Signing of financing contract for Peru November 2026
- Set-up of Technical Advisory Committee Central America December 2026
- Set-up of Technical Advisory Committee Peru January 2027
- Launch of the first open call in Central America March 2027
- Launch of the first open call in Peru June 2027
Board of Trustees
Úrsula Parrilla
Regional Director of the IUCN Regional Office for Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean (IUCN ORMACC)
Conservation practitioner with a proven track record of harnessing cross-sectoral alliances with governments, NGOs, rural communities, and the private sector across Latin America and the Caribbean.
She has extensive experience in promoting nature-based solutions to address environmental challenges and aligning them with broader economic, climate, and development agendas at both local and international levels.
Ursula has strong expertise in stakeholder engagement, bridging capacities, and fostering knowledge generation to mobilize resources for a sustainable future.
Since 2021, she has served as IUCN Regional Director for Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, where she focuses on catalyzing the transformative change needed to advance the IUCN Nature 2030 Programme for a world that values and conserves nature
Jens Mackensen
Head of Division Biodiversity and Sustainable Resource Mgnt Latin America
Dr. Jens Mackensen heads the division for Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management in Latin America and the Caribbean at the KfW Development Bank in Frankfurt, Germany. Along with the team he oversees financing approaches for terrestrial and marine biodiversity conservation as well as forest protection and resource management. Key focus is on grant financing through fund structures or investment projects as well as public credit programs. Jens served on the CBF Board of Directors from 2013 to 2022. He was also involved in setting up and chairing the eco-business Fund, a LUX-based impact investment fund.
Over the course of his career, Jens’s work has taken him from leading the strategy and analysis of international climate and forest policies with the United Nations Environmental Programme in Kenya; to forest investment projects in Asia and energy transition in Egypt. Jens received his doctorate in forestry from the University of Göttingen, Germany, after research in Indonesia, Canada, Switzerland, Costa Rica, and Australia.
Chris Buss
Director and Co-founder
Foundation for Farmers Organizations and Restorative Action
Chris has nearly 30 years’ experience in leading and developing large scale initiatives that integrate sustainable land management strategies, with a people centred and rights based approach with farmers organisations and Indigenous Peoples groups. With long and short term work in over 45 countries he has coupled this field experience with engagement in global, regional and national policy fora, with a strong emphasis on mobilising innovative finance that responds to local needs.
After 12 years in Africa, Chris worked at IUCN for nearly 15 years, leading the forest team and was Director for the Centre of Economy and Finance where he oversaw multiple teams including the development and management of a portfolio over $500m in direct programme funding from a range of government and private sector investments. He was also the co-lead of the Nature and Nature Based Solutions themes for the UNFCCC COP26 High Level Champion, and was the co-lead of The Forests Dialogue.
Leaving IUCN Chris has established the Foundation for Farmers Organisations and Restorative Action which supports farmers organisations, including indigenous peoples, in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific to influence public & private policies, and accelerate finance flows to their members that value their roles and rights.
Members
KfW is one of the world’s leading promotional banks. KfW has been committed to improving economic, social and environmental living conditions across the globe on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany and the federal states since 1948.
IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.
Donors
The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of Germany will fund as grants only the first two financing windows for Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama) and Ecuador with an amount of EUR 19 million over a period of six years.