Historic US$1.7 billion pledge supporting Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities to protect Forests made at Glasgow COP26

2 Nov

Tsodilo Hills custodians play an active role as stewards of the tropical dry forest and savanna in northern Botswana. Photo: Devon Jenkins for ISFMI.

On the 2nd November 2021 at the Glasgow COP26, the UK, Germany, US and the Netherlands, with 17 other funders, pledged to support Indigenous Peoples and local communities, noting their proven role as forest managers and stewards in preventing the deforestation that fuels climate change. In raising the visibility of Indigenous Peoples at the World Leaders Summit, donors also committed to delivering funding directly to communities and promised them a role in ‘decision-making and design’ of climate programs and finance instruments. This text is reprinted courtesy of the Christensen Fund, one of the 17 funders making the pledge.

“GLASGOW (2 November 2021)–The UK, Norway, Germany, the US, and the Netherlands, in partnership with The Christensen Fund and 16 other funders, pledged today to invest US$1.7 billion to help Indigenous and local communities protect the biodiverse tropical forests that are vital to protecting the planet from climate change, biodiversity loss, and pandemic risk, according to an announcement made today at a high-level World Leaders Summit at COP26.

“We are demonstrating our commitment today by announcing an initial collective contribution of at least $1.7 billion of confirmed financing to support the advancement of Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Communities’ forest tenure rights and their role as stewards of forests and nature,” says a statement released today by the donors. “We intend to build on this in subsequent years, increasing funding as ambitious programmes and proposals come forward. We also call on other donors to significantly increase their support to this important agenda.”

Indigenous Peoples and local communities manage half the world’s land and care for an astonishing 80% of Earth’s biodiversity, primarily under customary tenure arrangements. A recent study showed, however, that Indigenous communities and organizations receive less than 1% of the climate funding meant to reduce deforestation.

“Climate justice is only possible with full support of the rights of Indigenous Peoples,” said The Christensen Fund CEO Carla Fredericks. “Across the globe, and especially in the forests and other sensitive natural habitats that are key to averting absolute climate collapse, Indigenous Peoples hold millennia’s worth of wisdom and connection to natural environments, which can, and already has proven to, mitigate climate change and restore biodiversity. The Christensen Fund joins this pledge in recognition of the importance of the rights and self determination of Indigenous Peoples in climate finance commitments.”

“This pledge signals our commitment to protecting the world’s tropical forests and those who live in them,” said Lord Goldsmith, Minister of State for Pacific and the Environment. “The evidence is overwhelming that Indigenous Peoples and local communities are forests’ most effective guardians, often in the face of acute danger, and so they should be at the heart of nature-based solutions to the climate emergency. By investing in tropical forest communities and expanding their communal rights, we will also tackle poverty, pollution, and pandemics.”

Among the philanthropic groups joining the new pledge at a critical moment for addressing the climate crisis are the Ford Foundation, Children's Investment Fund Foundation, the Christensen Fund, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Sobrato Philanthropies, Good Energies Foundation, Oak Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and, as part of the Protecting our Planet Challenge members, Arcadia, Bezos Earth Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Nia Tero, Rainforest Trust, Re:wild, Rob and Melani Walton Foundation and the Wyss Foundation.

For years, only about $270 million of climate finance has been dedicated to forest protection each year, yet the Indigenous Peoples and local communities that protect the world’s forests directly receive only $46 million. With today’s announcement, the governments and funders hope to take a first step toward correcting an unjust system that has failed to favor communities that have the knowledge and capacity to outperform most other forest managers.

Researchers suggest that forests can contribute as much as 37% toward climate mitigation goals that governments committed to in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Protecting forests, which harbour precious biodiversity, also helps to prevent encounters with wildlife that can encourage the spillover of potentially dangerous pathogens into human populations.

A growing body of evidence shows that Indigenous Peoples are the most effective guardians of biodiverse tropical forests, which are increasingly under siege; UN experts recently urged climate negotiators at COP26 to respond with urgency to the destruction of precious ecosystems.

And yet the evidence, including a new study released in October, suggests the urgent need to scale up solutions to combat the destruction of tropical forests. In a comprehensive analysis of progress on a global commitment to protect forests, the authors called for recognizing and securing the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and for making the communities “central to setting goals and priorities for forest activities.”

“There is no viable solution to the climate crisis without forest and land management by Indigenous Peoples and local communities who have proven that they are the best guardians of the world’s forests,” said Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation. “This historic $1.7 billion pledge is a challenge to all funders to do far more to support and partner with Indigenous Peoples and local communities who hold a key solution to climate change, and have them lead the way.”

In a statement signed by philanthropic and government leaders and released today, the funders promised “to further recognise and advance the forest and nature stewardship role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, in partnership with governments and other stakeholders, with a particular focus on strengthening land tenure systems and protecting the tenure and resource rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.”

The statement goes on to commit the signatories “to prioritise the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in decision-making and in the design and implementation of relevant programmes and finance instruments, recognising the interests of vulnerable and marginalised groups including women and girls, people with disabilities, and youth.”

In his presentation at the World Leaders Summit today, Tuntiak Katan, a Shuar from Ecuador and an Indigenous leader representing the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, cited data showing that 12.2 million hectares of forest were destroyed in 2020. Katan welcomed the unprecedented commitment by donors to support and partner with Indigenous and local communities on the front lines of the climate crisis and called it a major step forward in advancing the goals of the Paris climate agreement. But he noted the new commitments for protecting tropical forests and their guardians will require significant political will on the part of governments and the support of the global economic and political sectors.

“We hold the best carbon capture technology our planet has to offer—our forests,” said Katan, whose alliance brings together elected leaders from the world’s largest tracts of forests in Indonesia, Africa, and Latin America and represents 35 million forest communities. “The work to protect the planet’s future will only be successful in partnership with Indigenous Peoples and local communities. We want to work with you to transform this world and to change people’s hearts. We are the solution you are looking for.”