ECO is happy to share this part of our publication with the Indigenous Peoples Caucus(IPO) to help amplify their voice. This article reflects the views of the IPO.
There’s a lot to be disappointed about when it comes to the climate finance negotiations taking place at COP 27. In particular, the narrow focus of heads of state and their preferred corporate partners defining and designing climate finance mechanisms. This means that they promote false solutions through carbon market schemes and supporting misplaced renewable energy development and misleading net-zero initiatives. These false solutions continue to impinge upon the rights of Indigenous Peoples and facilitate land theft and displacement of Indigenous Peoples. These realities are why the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change calls for access, transparency and accountability on climate finance in COP 27.
It’s important to remember that the discussions that led to the concept of climate finance come from the need to deal with the real economic costs of the climate crisis arising from extreme weather events and the losses and damages experienced by Indigenous Peoples.
These issues range from the loss of land, homes, and destruction to communities from extreme weather shifts, destruction of food systems, and loss of biodiversity just to name a few. Needs that have only continued to rise with the increasing challenges of adaptation and mitigation for our most vulnerable communities. However, a study commissioned by Rainforest Foundation Norway noted that less than 1% of funding actually reaches Indigenous Peoples to secure tenure rights and manage forests in tropical countries. Even with the US$1.7 million commitment made at COP 26—specifically to fund Indigenous Peoples and local communities in forests management and biodiversity preservation—only 7% went directly to Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Because local communities remain an undefined constituency, there is really no telling how much funding actually went directly to Indigenous Peoples.
As COP 27 continues, we call for support for the position of Indigenous Peoples who are calling for direct access to and direct management of funding, to ensure that available resources effectively support their self-determined needs and solutions. Direct access means direct negotiation and discussions with donor countries or funders to determine level of funding, parameters, and agreements on the funding mechanisms, so that we can go beyond limiting factors to include equal access for all Indigenous Peoples from all regions, ecosystems, and solutions. Direct Funding must respect and promote the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the ability of Indigenous Peoples to use and manage their lands, territories and resources. By ensuring that the right of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination is upheld and safeguarded, the twin issues of climate crisis and biodiversity loss will be better addressed.
This is important because this is the primary way we can avoid further investment in false solutions like carbon markets, or misguided responses to the climate crisis that do not respect our ecosystems as part of an interconnected whole. Towards this end, Indigenous peoples have their own unique needs across ecosystems, and unique challenges that extend throughout both so-called developed and developing nations. When climate finance mechanisms are guided by these principles, they will not only benefit Indigenous Peoples, but as the stewards of the world’s remaining biodiversity, will effectively and efficiently benefit all peoples and planet.