For decades, the world’s rainforests have been cleared at a relentless pace, mostly destroyed by humans for agriculture. It is a familiar tale accompanied by images of orangutans confronting loggers and cattle ranchers expanding further into the Earth’s most biodiverse places. But at the beginning of 2024, there is cautious optimism that change is in the air.

Preliminary data shows that deforestation in the Amazon has dramatically slowed, with loss of the most pristine areas more than halving. Brazil and Colombia, both led by presidents who have put the Amazon at the core of their political projects, have driven the decrease. The world’s largest rainforest is still at risk of crossing the tipping point and losing its ability to sustain itself, but there is a moment of opportunity for international action.

First, this week’s most important reads.

At Cop28 in Dubai last November, I sat down for nearly an hour with Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s president, who explained that his country’s vast biodiversity will be at the centre of their economy once it has transitioned away from fossil fuels.

“Biodiversity, in my opinion, is the source of our new wealth and Colombia could attain it. When we put in our advertising that people should visit Colombia, the country of beauty, we’re not lying. No doubt every Colombian knows that he or she is living in one of the most beautiful countries in the world,” he said.

Although the plan remains light on detail, Petro is not alone in seeking to change his country’s economic priorities. Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has put at lot of emphasis on the new “bioeconomy”, which will reward countries for protecting nature and is on the agenda for world leaders at the G20 which is being chaired by Brazil.

The message is clear: Brazil and Colombia will protect their forests – which are vital to meeting global climate and biodiversity targets – but they need an economic system to support them.

Between now and Cop30 in the Brazilian Amazon, governments are tasked with developing their next nationally determined contributions toward the Paris agreement, which must be calibrated towards meeting the 1.5C global heating target, consider international agreements on biodiversity and aim to end global deforestation this decade. All this will require money.

In Dubai, Lula proposed a global fund for rainforests that will safeguard them in perpetuity. Tasso Azevedo, a forest expert and adviser to the Brazilian president, said countries could be paid $30 a year for every hectare of forest they kept intact, while being penalised for every hectare lost.

“Imagine you have a country that has 1,000 hectares of forest. If you maintain the forest, you will get $30,000, but if you clear cut 10 hectares, you get nothing,” he told a side event at the summit.

In order to qualify for the Tropical Forests Forever fund, countries would have to meet three conditions: keep deforestation below 0.5% a year; have forest loss trending downwards or keep it below 0.1%; and give the majority of funds to the people looking after the trees. The fund could be financed by putting a charge on fossil fuel sales, Azevedo said.

The good news is not just isolated to the Amazon. In recent years, Indonesia and Malaysia – both home to large areas of rainforest – have recorded large and sustained falls in forest loss following government action, including restrictions on the palm oil industry. They, too, would like a financial reward.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, which has the largest area of the Congo Basin rainforest, second only in size to the Amazon, is a cause for concern. It is overshadowed by its South American sister, lacking in scientific research and political interest, yet still absolutely crucial. Groups such as the Congo Basin Science Initiative, akin to those set up to protect the Amazon, were launched last year to bridge the gap amid intense mining and fossil fuel extractive interest in the rainforests which threaten its future.

The picture can change again quickly and the recent progress is fragile. But there is a change in 2024 to finally break the cycle.

Read more on the Amazon:

The good news

The bad news

Profiling an inspiring individual, suggested by Down to Earth readers

Throughout Cop28, the Colombian environment minister – who has taken her Palestinian grandfather’s surname – was a consistent voice demanding environmental ambition at the Dubai summit at the end of last year. Colombia called for strong language on the phase-out of fossil fuels and called for a new international treaty on the end of the fossil fuel era.

In 2024, Colombia will host the biodiversity Cop16, the first since a major international agreement in Montreal that set this decade’s targets on halting the destruction of nature. Muhamad is likely to be the Cop16 president and her enthusiasm will provided a much-needed lift to the process.

Nominated by Patrick Greenfield

If you’d like to nominate a climate hero, email downtoearth@theguardian.com

Demystifying a climate concept you’ve heard in the headlines

The study of cyclical or seasonal biological events like plant flowering, bird migration, egg laying and hibernation. Phenology examines, for instance, how birds evolved to lay eggs that hatch at times when insects should be abundant. As global heating brings earlier springs and later autumns, it is also a key indicator of climate impacts.

For more Guardian coverage of nature, click here

One image that sums up the week in environmental news

Credit: Sabena Jane Blackbird/Alamy

“Though modest to look at, they are so incredibly tough that some can even survive the harsh environment of space,” writes Paul Simons in praise of lichens in this week’s Plantwatch column.

They may both be key figures in our past – “there is even a thought that life on Earth could conceivably have been spread through space by lichens hitching a ride on meteorites” – and our future too, says Simons: “Lichens that were kept in a simulated Martian environment on Earth survived and were active, raising the prospect that life could exist on Mars.”

For more of the week’s best environmental pictures, catch up on The Week in Wildlife here