Protecting forests by investing in Indigenous peoples and local communities, or IPLCs, is increasingly seen as one of the most effective ways to mitigate climate change and halt the global loss of biodiversity. The trouble is that a lot of the funding flow doesn’t reach the IPLC-led organisations that can tackle these issues, says Lindsey Allen, executive director of the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA).

“Right now there’s incredible dissonance between what the evidence shows works for protecting tropical forests and supporting communities, and where the majority of funding flows,” Allen said in an email to Mongabay. “This has to change. It is impossible to end deforestation without a much larger portion of funding reaching organisations in tropical forest countries, and especially Indigenous and community organisations.”

In response to this disconnect, IPLC organisations are banding together to develop funding mechanisms to which big donors can contribute. In support of these efforts, US-based CLUA, which itself is a collective of several private foundations, is working with a broader group of philanthropic climate donors to develop what Allen calls “a ‘plumbing’ system for this finance.” The goal is to move funds more effectively to places where they can have the most impact.

Scientific research has brought the important role that IPLCs play in managing forests into sharp focus. Traditional lands hold 36 per cent of remaining intact forests, which contain vast amounts of carbon critical to meeting global climate goals. But in many places, IPLC rights aren’t legally recognised.

These organisations also face a number of hurdles blocking the path of financing from donors’ endowments. IPLC organisations often can’t comply with monitoring and reporting requirements, and the funding they receive may not be flexible enough to be tailored to on-the-ground priorities.

Read the full article about climate finance reform by John Cannon at Eco-Business.