Although 17% of all forest carbon and 39% of global lands in good ecological condition are managed or governed by Indigenous Peoples, just a tiny fraction of climate and biodiversity financing gets directed to them. Most of the funding seems to evaporate in webs of institutions before reaching communities.
To meet biodiversity and climate goals, a deeper transformation in partnerships between multilateral funders and Indigenous Peoples and local communities is urgently needed.
The authors say this includes not only simplified application processes, alignment of funding priorities with community needs, and more responsive, flexible long-term support that directly reaches Indigenous and local communities, but also cultural transformation.
This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of Mongabay.
At the COP26 U.N. climate conference in Glasgow, 141 countries committed to ending and reversing deforestation by 2030. A key signal was the $1.7 billion pledge from the Forest Tenure Funders Group, a group of governments and philanthropies aimed at advancing tenure rights of Indigenous Peoples (IPs), local communities and Afro-descendent Peoples (LCs) by increasing direct support.
This is crucial for many reasons. One of them being: 17% of all forest carbon and 39% of global lands in good ecological condition are managed or governed by Indigenous Peoples.
While global disbursements, in general, have risen, which we find encouraging, reforms to the multilateral financing system — the second largest source of relevant financing after bilateral governments — have yet to deliver on their promise to unlock greater access for nature stewards. Two key problems persist:
First, funding is woefully insufficient. Global disbursements for Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ tenure rights from all sources average to an equivalent of just 0.5% of the $96 billion in climate finance flows from multilateral funds. Second, funding is not adequately reaching communities. Over the past thirteen years, just 3% of funding projects accounted for over half of disbursements, mostly channeled through third parties. Few rights-holder organizations received grants exceeding $1 million.
To meet global biodiversity and climate goals, funding in support of Indigenous, and local community tenure rights and forest guardianship must accelerate and increase significantly from current levels. A deep transformation in partnerships — in the way multilateral funders work alongside Indigenous Peoples and local communities — is urgently needed.
We, the authors, call for an enabling environment and profound cultural, financial architecture, and operational reform within these multilateral institutions. In doing so, we support and build on the calls of Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ networks for greater access to finance, recognizing the challenges and barriers they face.
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