A global fund launched on Tuesday aims to boost climate financing to Indigenous communities to help them secure land rights and preserve forested areas from the Congo Basin to the Andes, the initiative's backers said.
Governments, philanthropists and companies are expected to contribute to the Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative (CLARIFI), which will distribute funding among groups working to conserve forests and other ecosystems on the ground.
Over the last decade, less than 1% of international climate finance has gone to Indigenous and local communities to manage forests that absorb planet-heating carbon emissions and are rich in biodiversity, but the new fund hopes to change that.