Indigenous Consent in Climate Projects

Summary

• Indigenous peoples and local communities received less than 1% of global mitigation and adaptation funding between 2011 and 2020, according to a Rainforest Foundation Norway estimate.
• The Green Climate Fund has not accredited an Indigenous organization for direct funding and has lacked a precise way to track Indigenous-specific receipts.
• Land conservation and carbon-credit efforts can conflict with Indigenous land rights, as illustrated by eviction pressure facing the Ogiek people in Kenya’s Mau Forest.
• Free, prior and informed consent is widely recognized as a safeguard, but the articles describe implementation as inconsistent and often too late to influence project decisions.
• Renewable energy and other climate projects can cause harm when they are poorly sited or proceed without meaningful consultation, including concerns around a proposed pumped-hydro site near a Yakama Nation sacred area.
• The articles emphasize community-led conservation, direct finance, enforceable consent, and reuse of disturbed land as ways to align climate action with Indigenous rights.