Forest-based communities and their traditional governance are necessary and effective to stem the rising tide of deforestation, forest degradation, and habitat loss.
Through training, tools, and technical support, we work with representative organizations to defend their rights and territorial security across the rainforests of Central and South America. Our partners’ priorities and aspirations, as well as their expressed needs or gaps, always drive our support.
Shaping National Policy
We provide policy and technical support to partners, from “know your rights” workshops and building the evidence basis for decision making to strengthening communities’ own decision-making processes, providing technical and legal analyses on issues of concern, and supporting communities to engage with policy makers.
Our work in this area has included supporting partners to:
- Advance land titling in Panama
- Self organize the “Free Land Camp” (Acampamento Terra Livre, in Portuguese) in Brasilia, and conduct policy analyses and public demonstrations against the Marco Temporal
- Train community paralegals and develop a consultative process to reform the Amerindian Act 2006 of Guyana
- Push for stronger protections for Indigenous environmental defenders in Peru
- Develop a range of resources on rights issues, including on FPIC, climate policy, and REDD+, etc. across the geographies we work
Directing Climate Finance
We support partners to develop and promote their proposals for direct climate finance, especially via advocacy platforms and territorial funds that are led and directed by regional representative organizations of Indigenous peoples and local communities. Meanwhile, we engage coalitions and institutional donors to reform financing policies and practices that are better fit for purpose and achieve shared goals with Indigenous peoples and local communities.
Recent work in this area has included:
- Providing technical support to the Secretariat of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC), which has established the Shandia Platform to expand national and regional funding mechanisms, and actively engages in the Forest Climate Leaders Partnership
- Working with the Mesoamerican Alliance of People and Forests (AMPB) to design and launch the Mesoamerican Territorial Fund
- Engaging in the “Path to Scale” to scale-up global ambition to legally recognize land and resource rights
Ensuring Equity in Carbon Markets
We promote greater transparency and equity in the fast-developing forest carbon market, providing partners with the tools, resources, and technical support to effectively engage in projects or jurisdictional programs affecting them. Based on partners’ expressed needs, we strengthen capacities at the community, federational, and national levels, while working towards fairer rules and real benefits for forest stewards.
Our work in this area has included:
- Developing a range of analyses and tools to better understand the Cancun Safeguards and how they are most relevant to Indigenous peoples and local communities
- Supporting partner exchanges to learn from each others’ experiences and develop successful strategies to resolve common challenges
- Engaging individually and collectively in jurisdictional programs and with standard bodies like ART, and producing case studies on key emerging issues in the voluntary carbon market
Resources and Publications
