Indigenous empowerment for climate-resilient solutions in Africa

At COP 28 side event Indigenous leaders discussed empowering Indigenous communities with financial resources and inclusive carbon markets to scale up climate solutions.

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At COP 28, the FSC Indigenous Foundation, the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee (IPACC), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Inclusive Development Hub convened experts at an event on December 5 in the Indigenous Peoples Pavilion, Engaging Indigenous Peoples in Carbon Markets: Direct access to climate finance for Indigenous communities in Africa to increase awareness of the unique contributions of Indigenous communities to climate resilience and to discuss opportunities, challenges and solutions related to direct climate finance and carbon markets.

The need for direct and inclusive mechanisms

The global challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change require urgent and collaborative action. Indigenous communities, often the stewards of rich biodiversity, possess unique knowledge and sustainable practices that can significantly contribute to climate resilience. By fostering direct access for Indigenous Peoples to climate finance, we can empower Indigenous communities in Africa to implement sustainable solutions, contributing significantly to the broader goals of biodiversity conservation and climate resilience.

Carbon markets could be a way of empowering Indigenous Peoples by paying them for protecting the world’s forests. Indigenous and community lands hold at least 22% of the carbon stored in tropical and subtropical forests globally. These markets have the potential to create a unique opportunity for Indigenous communities to develop an economic sector aligned with Indigenous lifestyles, Indigenous Cultural Landscapes, and sustainable land management. It is also an opportunity for governments and industry to co-create meaningful partnerships and develop relevant policies with Indigenous Peoples.

On the other hand, some Indigenous communities fear that further development of carbon markets, even with the new rules agreed to at COP 27, will endanger local livelihoods and create loopholes for further emissions. Markets must be designed in a transparent way that responds to the needs and realities of Indigenous communities.

Perspectives from Indigenous leaders

We took the opportunity of COP28 to create an inclusive space to identify the key constraints, challenges, and opportunities of climate finance and carbon markets.

To begin the event, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, FSC Indigenous Foundation Council Chair gave opening remarks.

“What is the carbon market, and how is it going to respect the land and rights of Indigenous Peoples?” she asked. “If governments are going engage in the carbon market, we are not going to let them do it without getting the benefit and we are not going to let them do it while harming our lives and our territories.”

A panel with Indigenous leaders and partner organizations shared perspectives and key insights on how we can engage stakeholders from the realms of climate finance, environmental policy, and Indigenous rights advocacy to ensure direct access to finance for Indigenous communities.

Panelists also discussed how Indigenous Peoples can benefit from carbon markets, and which concerns need to be addressed for more Indigenous Peoples to participate.

“There is a big debate that carbon is a false solution”, said Kanyinke Sena, Executive Director of IPACC. “We must understand that carbon in itself is not a bad thing, what is a bad thing is the people that use that to come and benefit – the carbon cowboys.”

He also emphasized the importance of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) for communities engaging in the carbon market.

Elijah Toirai, Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) and Communities Lead at Conservation International discussed registration for carbon credits and the importance of carbon market reports remaining public. “We are seeing a shift towards Indigenous Peoples communities becoming the carbon credit entity. The Indigenous Peoples’ communities and organizations are registering the projects. That way, when it comes to benefit sharing, the buyers actually then pay to these Indigenous Peoples’ organizations,” he said.

Joseph Itongwa, Coordinator of REPALEAC and IPACC Great Lakes representative, posed an important question: “Where can we report the wrongdoers in the carbon credit equation?”

The question and answer section presented the opportunity to exchange knowledge and information from other regions.

“We, the Indigenous Peoples, have organized ourselves and have proposed our own climate strategy, called the Amazon Indigenous Network, in the face of this challenge. We are looking for the rights of Indigenous Peoples to come first, and the right of access to the territories. We are implementing REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) with the guidelines of the Amazon Indigenous Network,” said Fermín Chimatani Tayori of the National Association of Contract Executors for the Administration of Communal Reserves of Peru.

Panelists concluded that it is vital to ensure the respect of Indigenous Peoples’ rights in the development of carbon markets. Indigenous Peoples need to be included in the design of these mechanisms so they can engage in carbon markets, if they so choose, in favor of their communities, landscapes, and cosmovision.

Panama’s President signs decree adopting the Indigenous Women’s Empowerment Plan

Indigenous women’s leadership and teamwork were important to achieve his historic act

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On the occasion of Indigenous Women’s Day, President of the Republic of Panama Laurentino Cortizo Cohen signed the Executive Decree adopting the Plan for the Empowerment of Indigenous Women of Panama (PEMIP 2025).

“We don’t want to be in the statistics of vulnerability. We want to be in the statistics of empowered women, breaking barriers, women who fight every day to develop their territories,” said Sara Omi, PEMIP 2025 Coordinator and Emberá leader.

It was a historic act in which for the first time in the Republic of Panama a public policy of gender inclusion was established, aimed at promoting the integral development of Indigenous women within and outside the Indigenous territories.

“With this sanction, for the first time a public policy is established for the integral development of Indigenous women, important pillars for the conservation of their culture, demonstrating great leadership and capacity to contribute to the development of the nation,” said President Cortizo.

About PEMIP

The Economic Empowerment Plan for Indigenous Women of Panama (PEMIP 2025) is a pioneering initiative that seeks to unite commitments between Indigenous women and public, private, and civil society actors, to carry out concrete actions that provide more and better opportunities for Indigenous women to fully develop their potential and capacity to contribute to the development and well-being of their families, territories, and country.

Its objective is to advance the autonomy, full inclusion, and effective exercise of the economic rights of Indigenous women, without any type of discrimination and based on their protagonism and self-determination, with a timeline from 2022-2025.

Signing ceremony

The key message of this event was teamwork. The Plan is a multisectoral initiative with the participation of 69 entities, such as public sector institutions governing economic-labor policies (Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Labor and Labor Development, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Authority), private sector (CECOM), development of Indigenous Peoples (Advisory Committee of Indigenous Women of Panama – CAMIP), NGOs (FSC Indigenous Foundation, City of Knowledge, AECID) and multilateral banks (Inter-American Development Bank, United Nations Development Program).

At the event, we heard from Laurentino Cortizo Cohen, President of the Republic, Roger Tejada Bryden, Minister of MINGOB, Briseida Iglesias, Guna Ancestral Sage, Sara Omi Casamá, National Coordinator of PEMIP 2025, Meybi Chamarra, Coordinator of CAMIP, Aulina Ismare Opua, Cacica of the National Congress of the Wounaan People and member of the National Council for the Integral Development of Indigenous Peoples of Panama (CONDIPI), Ana Grigera, Gender and Diversity Specialist of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and María Ángeles Sallé, member of the PEMIP Technical Assistance Team and ENRED Panama.

A success factor to reach this day was that all stakeholders listened to Indigenous women and were open to working with different communities and empowering Indigenous leaders.

The Ministry of Government acknowledged that the FSC Indigenous Foundation plays an important role in facilitating this process.

How we support PEMIP 2025

The FSC Indigenous Foundation (FSC-IF) is supporting the governance and implementation of this plan through the Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance for Rights and Development (IPARD) Program, working with Indigenous women and guided by their wisdom, knowledge, innovation, and leadership. IPARD is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and other private sector partners.

FSC-IF has a leading role in the PEMIP Strategic Sustainability Committee, working together with the IDB, CAMIP, the Ministry of Government, and ENRED, achieving many advances for the institutional strengthening of PEMIP and the implementation of CAMIP, such as workshops to expand their knowledge, manage the governance of PEMIP, empower their role in the Plan and be multiplier agents of change within their territories.

We also support i) the institutional strengthening of CAMIP, ii) the implementation of PEMIP in coordination with the government and CAMIP, to carry out the implementation of PEMIP at the local and community level, iii) the promotion of the implementation of PEMIP and other basic policies such as the implementation of Law 37 and Law 301, the organic charters of different comarcas and collective lands, iv) expansion of other issues to other areas to be inclusive in social, education and health issues and security of their rights, v) strengthening alliances and governance of the PEMIP, creating operational manuals and creating a network that strengthens and can ensure the sustainability of the Plan.

We consider this Plan to be not only a pioneering but an integral initiative that supports all actions promoted for and by Indigenous Peoples, supporting PEMIP 2025 and CAMIP as safeguards for the future and for Mother Earth.

Scaling up Indigenous solutions to the climate change crisis

The Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Mesoamerican Climate Week 2023 will convene multi-sector actors to discuss and optimize climate change actions for the protection of our forests, people, and future.

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Climate change is a pressing global issue that demands immediate attention. To shed light on the Indigenous perspective and present Indigenous-led actions to tackle this crisis, leaders from Mesoamerica and around the world will converge in Panama City, Panama, from June 13-16, 2023, for the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Mesoamerican Climate Week 2023. This event will serve as a platform for profound discussions on safeguarding our forests and securing the survival of our communities.

This forum, organized by the Mesoamerican Alliance for Peoples and Forests (AMPB) and supported by the FSC Indigenous Foundation through the Indigenous Peoples Alliance for the Rights and Development (IPARD), is a space designed by Indigenous Peoples and local communities to present their territorial experiences and explore, together with strategic allies, the valuable opportunities for direct territorial investment that will allow the scaling up of ancestral solutions to the climate crisis with a territorial perspective.

United against climate change

There is no single actor that can be successful in fighting climate change. We need collaboration among Indigenous Peoples, civil society, the private sector, and government to reduce climate risk by building on Indigenous-nature-based solutions.

Indigenous Peoples and local communities of the region are experiencing first-hand the impacts of climate change and have developed innovative strategies to adapt to adversity. These communities influence approximately 50 million hectares of forests that host 8% of the world’s biodiversity and store 47% of the region’s forest carbon stocks.

During this week, representatives from Indigenous and local communities will share their experiences of resilience, struggle, and adaptation in the face of increasingly extreme conditions.

This hybrid event will be attended by governments of the region, regional alliances, international cooperation, and philanthropic donors and will be organized by thematic days listed below.

A holistic approach to addressing climate change

At the FSC Indigenous Foundation, we know that Indigenous Peoples are inextricably linked to their lands and natural resources. For this reason, our Global Strategy focuses on Indigenous Cultural Landscaliving landscapes that hold immense value for Indigenous Peoples, who have maintained enduring pes, or relationships with the land, water, flora, fauna, and spirit. This approach recognizes and acknowledges the cultural and traditional way Indigenous Peoples manage their territories on the ground and incorporates a holistic territorial perspective into all our areas of work.

We are supporting Climate Week through our Indigenous Peoples Alliance for Rights and Development (IPARD) Program and as part of our collective efforts to strengthen Indigenous Peoples’ organizations at the regional level to achieve self-development, self-governance, and self-reliance. We are working to empower a new generation of Indigenous leaders to combat the challenges of climate change and determine a different course of action for the future of the planet. This week will be an incredible opportunity to advance these goals and connect Indigenous and local communities with the resources they need to scale up their ancestral solutions that have been safeguarding our planet for millennia.

Join us to support ancestral Indigenous and community-based climate solutions for a sustainable future.

Download the full agenda of the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Mesoamerican Climate Week 2023 here and find more information on AMPB’s website.

The venue for the week is the Hotel El Panama in Panama City, Panama. Virtual connection and livestreaming of the sessions will be available in English and Spanish here.

Launching the FSC Indigenous Foundation Global Strategy 2023-2027

Our Strategy was developed by, with, and for Indigenous Peoples to promote and support Indigenous-led actions and solutions.

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We are Indigenous Peoples; our strategies and our future actions are shaped by ancestral knowledge, practices, cosmovision, values, and respect for Mother Earth and our past.

We are Indigenous Peoples; we are ancestral guardians of Indigenous-based solutions to global challenges. We are part of the 500 million brothers and sisters who live, populate, and safeguard Mother Earth.

The FSC Indigenous Foundation is the global vehicle to design, manage, facilitate, and scale up Indigenous-led solutions through multi-sectoral partnerships.

The FSC Indigenous Foundation presents its Global Strategy 2023-2027, designed to reflect the aspirations of Indigenous Peoples as drivers of our organization.

The Strategy envisions to contribute to a future where Indigenous Peoples are recognized as providers, agents, guardians, and partners in solutions to global challenges including climate change, biodiversity loss, natural ecosystem degradation, desertification, and deforestation.

It was developed following an Indigenous perspective driven by Indigenous values, vision, principles, ancestral knowledge, and traditional practices connected to Mother Earth. It was shaped to respond to key challenges and opportunities faced by Indigenous Peoples to achieve their self-development, self-governance, and self-reliance.

The core action area of our strategy is Indigenous Cultural Landscapes, which guide and incorporate a holistic territorial perspective into all our programmatic areas of work.

Learn more and read our Global Strategy 2023 – 2027 here.

We look forward to working with you to support and promote Indigenous Peoples as key actors and providers of solutions to fight global challenges and promote inclusive and rights-based development for everyone.

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