Effective climate and biodiversity action must center locally-led solutions, yet between 2011 and 2020, less than 1% of global climate finance reached frontline communities directly.
There is increasing global recognition that Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities are the most capable stewards of vital ecosystems for climate change mitigation and biodiversity protection (Garnett et al. 2018; Zhang et al. 2023). Despite this recognition and new international commitments, such as the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, these principles remain poorly implemented. For example, the Forest Tenure Funders Group pledged to invest $1.7 billion to IPLC tenure rights (2021-2025) but reported that only 2.1% of funds in 2022 reached local organizations directly (FTFG 2023).
A large part of funding remains tied to technical applications and reporting processes tailored for larger organizations, excluding many local and IPLC-led organizations that lack this particular type of expertise and capacity. Funding remains centralized, bureaucratic, and inaccessible to many IPLC-led groups, reinforcing dependence on large intermediaries and constraining local growth (Buzzard 2024; RRI and RFN 2023).
We've identified a twofold problem: financing still isn't reaching the right places, and limited financial and project management capacity at the frontlines often prevents communities from meeting due diligence requirements.
To achieve equity in conservation and climate finance, both gaps must be closed by expanding funding access and strengthening local capacity, enabling frontline communities to lead and sustain their own solutions.
