To watch the livestream of the event, please click here.

At COP26, governments and private foundations pledged $1.7bn to support indigenous and local communities in the fight against climate change. But only a small share of current funding reaches IPLCs. To change this, the donors need to revisit their practice and untangle the bureaucratic system that prevents frontline communities from accessing climate funds.

During this event, indigenous and local community leaders from Latin America and Africa, accompanied by allies from the NGO sector, will present and discuss the Shandia Platform, a platform with pathways and solutions to materialize the pledge. Indigenous and local community leaders will present their regional funds and share stories showcasing the power of community-level action.

We will also look at how current funding practices need to change to ease the flow of funds to the IPLC territories, and assess if anything has changed since COP26.

Join us as we look back at work done since COP26 and present new initiatives based on transparency, access to information, and participation to accelerate access to funding for indigenous peoples and local communities that guard humanity's hope for tomorrow.

The event will take place on November 10th at 4:45 pm at the Hatshepsut Room, side event room 3, Blue Zone. We will have a networking reception following the event.

Event speakers include:

Levi Sucre - Co-Chair to the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC) and Coordinator to the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forets (AMPB)
Gustavo Sanchez - President of the Mexican Network of Forest Peasant Organizations and Board of Directors member for the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests (AMPB). Member of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities.
Joseph Itongwa - Member of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities and Coordinator to the Indigenous Peoples and Local Network for the Management of Forest Ecosystems of Central Africa (REPALEAC)
Maggie Charnley - Head of International Forest Unit, FCDO - UK
Torbjørn Gjefsen - Climate Policy Advisor, Rainforest Foundation Norway,
Ana Osuna Orozco - Head of Programmes, Rainforest Foundation UK
Patricia Zuppi - Advisor the Executive Secretary of te Network of Amazonian Cooperation (RCA)
Vanessa Torres - Deputy Director of the Asociación Ambiente y Sociedad (AAS)

Event co-organizers:

Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC) is a political platform representing indigenous peoples and local communities from the Amazon Basin, Mesoamerica, the Congo Basin, and Indonesia. United around five key demands and organized through national and regional organizations, the GATC brings IPLCs to every table where their rights and those of Mother Earth are discussed.

The Rainforest Foundations—Rainforest Foundation Norway, Rainforest Foundation UK, and Rainforest Foundation US—are sister organizations that operate under a shared mission. With more than 30 years of on-the-ground experience, we recognize that social justice and indigenous rights are necessary preconditions for enduring forest protection. Together, we have over 100 long-term indigenous and other local partners throughout the Amazon, Congo Basin, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Central America, and collectively, we provide technical assistance and tens of millions of dollars in direct support annually to local organizations for rights-based forest protection. We support indigenous peoples and local communities in protecting more than 84 million hectares of tropical rainforest, a forest area roughly the size of France and England combined.

Ambiente y Sociedad is a Colombian non-governmental organization (NGO). Our work is focused in the Pacific and Amazon regions, primarily in the foothills of Caquetá and Putumayo, and the Savannah of Bogotá. Ambiente y Sociedad seeks to generate positive changes in environmental regulations, policies, decision-making, and practices regarding environmental issues. To do this, the organization promotes a full application of civil society rights to participation and access to information, the transparency of public and private entities, and works with affected communities, women, and youth.

The event will have simultaneous interpretation.

Realizing the pledge: How can we make it a reality for IPLCs?