Tropical deforestation is a major threat to global biodiversity and produces 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Tree cover in Brazil alone fell 13% from 2001 to 2022. The global public good of preserving forests has spawned a number of global initiatives including; Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+ ), commodity certification, proposed unilateral restrictions on deforestation supply chains, and the Leaders Declaration on Forests. Nevertheless, the conversion of forests for agriculture provides a pathway for development and poverty reduction for many developing countries. Funding for REDD+ results based payments (RPB) is designed to provide an alternative development pathway to forest conversion. This study collects and analyses data on the range of sources of funding for REDD+ and other forest conservation activities, with the aim of identifying their potential to meet the development aspirations of people and countries while avoiding the further conversion of forests. These include; compliance emissions trading, official development assistance (ODA) for climate and biodiversity, voluntary Carbon markets and philanthropy. Currently, conservation activities including jurisdictional REDD+ activities, financed from public sources, are the largest finance flows despite only partially covering the net opportunity cost. We conclude emissions trading, such as would be possible under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, is the only funding category likely to provide sufficient funding for REDD+ to reduce forest emissions.