Today, the Ford Foundation shares our third annual update on our COP 26 pledge to support the tenure rights and forest guardianship of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPs and LCs).
From August 1, 2023, to July 31, 2024, we approved $30.9 million* in funding aligned with the goals of that pledge, supporting the vital work of the organizations listed below. In the first three-and-a-half years of the five-year pledge, we’ve approved $119 million in funding, exceeding our $100 million commitment.
In implementing our commitment, we’ve paid close attention to direct support, which is the proportion of our pledge-aligned funding going directly to IP and LC organizations and networks. Here, too, we’ve made meaningful progress. In this reporting period, 51% of funding was direct support, compared to 24% last year and 17% in the first year after the pledge. This is partly the result of increased support to IP and LC organizations through our Building Institutions and Networks (BUILD) initiative. If we also include funds regranted to IP and LC groups by trusted partners, we estimate that 65% of our recent funding reached IP and LC groups in ways they influence or control.
Still, our work is far from finished. It is more important than ever to support the long-term resilience of organizations and movements of IPs and LCs and their efforts to strengthen tenure rights and governance. Indeed, there is no viable solution to the climate crisis without the work of IPs and LCs and respect for their rights.
We will continue to do our part to accelerate the transparent, accountable, and effective implementation of the IP and LC pledge by:
- Posting at least one more update on our progress through the full five-year pledge period
- Working with the Forest Tenure Funders Group (FTFG) to support overall annual reporting by pledge signatories and translation of the annual report into multiple languages
- Continuing discussions with IP and LC partners about how we and other funders can be more responsive to their needs and aspirations
- Learning with and from other funders on best practices for supporting tenure rights and forest guardianship, including attention to the intersection of issues such as gender and disability
- Using our financial, communicative, and facilitative resources to lift up the work of IP and LC organizations and the growing ecosystem of IP- and LC-controlled territorial funds, including the many we support
Most importantly, the Ford Foundation commits to joining a second pledge after 2025 and encouraging other funders to do the same. For many reasons, COP 30 in Brazil next year will be a compelling moment to deliver an even more ambitious commitment.
This year, two of our grantees, The Rights and Resources Initiative and Rainforest Foundation Norway, have released new research on trends in funding for IP and LC tenure rights and forest guardianship. They found that disbursements have averaged $517 million annually since 2020, a 36% increase from the prior four-year average, and they attribute 72% of this increase to the work of the IP and LC pledge signatories. This finding agrees with our observations and experiences—that the pledge, though insufficient, has made the remarkable work of IPs and LCs more visible and provided a modest but much-needed increase in support for their work.
As the first IP and LC pledge nears its end in December 2025, funders now have the chance to design a “pledge 2.0” that is more ambitious in substance and form. The Ford Foundation looks forward to engaging with peer funders, IP and LC organizations, and other partners to explore how to make the most of this opportunity.
Grants (or portions thereof**) aligned with pledge criteria and approved during the period August 1, 2023 to July 31, 2024
Afro Colombian Agency Hileros Corporation
Akubadaura Community of Jurists
Alliance for Responsible Mining
Alliance for Self-Determination and Autonomy (ALDEA)
Amazonian Center for Anthropology and Practical Application (CAAAP)
American Jewish World Service (AJWS)
Ancestral Domain Registration Agency (BRWA)
Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) / APOINME
Asociación Ambiente y Sociedad
Association of Indigenous Women of the Archipelago (Perempuan AMAN)
Baudó Agencia Pública
Brazilian Anthropological Association (ABA)
Brazilian Forum on Public Safety (FBSP)
Bufete Justicia para los Pueblos
Burness
Catitu Institute
Cattrachas
Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD)
Center for Research and Popular Education (CINEP)
Center of Black Culture of Maranhão (CCNMA)
Center of Indigenous Cultures of Peru (CHIRAPAQ)
Centro Bartolomé De Las Casas
Charapa
Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH)
Colectivo Poder Constituyente de las Mujeres
Comité Campesino del Altiplano (CCDA)
Community Forestry Association of Guatemala Utz Che’
Conexiones Climáticas
Consortium for Agrarian Reform (KPA)
Convoca
Coordination of the Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB)
Cultural Survival
Defending Land and Environment Defenders Coalition / World Resources Institute
Diakonia
Djokosoetono Research Center at the University of Indonesia
EarthRights International
Earthsight
El Observador
ENDÉMICA Studios
Energy Transition Fund (ETF) / Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Environmental Action Germany (DUH)
Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA US)
Environmental Justice Fund South Africa
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW)
European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ)
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)
Federal University of Recôncavo da Bahia (UFRB)
Find an Independent Mining Expert Database (FAIME) / MiningWatch Canada
Forest Peoples Programme (FPP)
Forests & Livelihoods: Assessment, Research, and Engagement (FLARE) Network at the University of Notre Dame
Foro Interétnico Solidaridad por Chocó (FISCH)
Friends of the Earth U.S.
Fund for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC)
Geoindígena
Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC) / Rainforest Foundation US
Global Greengrants Fund
Global Witness
Group for the Analysis of Development (GRADE)
Harvest
Honduran Black Fraternity Organization (OFRAHEH)
Human Impacts Institute
Indian Law Resource Center
Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR)
Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program at the University of Arizona
Indonesian Environment Fund (BPDLH)
Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA)
Institute for Development and Peace Studies (INDEPAZ)
Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB)
Institute of Global Law (IDG)
Institute of Research and Indigenous Formation (IEPÉ)
Instituto Socioambiental (ISA)
International Land Coalition (ILC)
International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA)
Interstate Movement of the Babassu Coconut Breakers (MIQCB)
Justica Ambiental (Friends of the Earth Mozambique)
La Silla Vacía
Land and Freedom Association
Landesa
Latin American Studies Association (LASA)
Law, Environment and Natural Resources (DAR)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR)
MadreSelva Collective
Malungu (Coordination of Associations of Quilombo Communities of Pará)
Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests (AMPB)
Mídia NINJA
Mongabay
Movilizatorio
National Coordination of Quilombola Rural Black Communities (CONAQ)
New York Botanical Garden
Nusantara Fund
Observatory of Community Consultation Protocols at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná
Observatory of Extractive Industries in Guatemala / Fundación Propaz
Observatory of Human Rights of Isolated Indigenous Peoples and of Recent Contact (OPI)
OECD Watch
Organización para el Desarrollo Social y Productivo de los Pueblos Indígenas y Comunidades Afrodescendientes (SOCPINDA)
National Organization of Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Women of Peru (ONAMIAP)
Network of Indigenous and Local Populations for the Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa (REPALEAC)
Oxfam America
Peace Brigades International UK
Periodistas de a Pie
Peru EQUIDAD – Center for Public Policies and Human Rights
Plataforma Internacional contra la Impunidad
Project on Organizing, Development, Education and Research (PODER)
Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds
Proyecto de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales (ProDESC)
Purnomo Yusgiantoro Center
Rainforest Action Network (RAN)
Rainforest Foundation Norway
Regional Indigenous and Popular Council of Xpujil (CRIPX)
Religions for Peace Brazil / Interfaith Rainforest Initiative
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Brazil
SAGE Fund / New Venture Fund
Social Promotion and Development (CESDER)
Solidarity Action Fund (FASOL)
Stand.earth
Strategic Youth Network for Development (SYND)
Tamikuã Txihi Gonçalves Rocha
Tara Climate Foundation
Terra de Direitos
TerraVida
The Conversation Indonesia
The Invisible Thread (TINTA)
UN Special Rapporteur on Environment Defenders / Agir Ensemble pour les Droits Humains
University of Queensland
Wataniba (Socio-Environmental Working Group of the Amazon)
WITNESS
Woodwell Climate Research Center
World Resources Institute (WRI)
Youth Climate Justice Fund / Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Zeferino Ladrillero Human Rights Center (CDHZL)
*This net figure includes increases to grants made in previous years of the pledge (see note below); we have also subtracted funding for portions of two grants that we inadvertently double-counted in a prior report.
**In cases where funding to an organization also supports activities beyond those outlined in the pledge criteria, we have only counted the relevant portion of the grant amount toward the progress reported here. The list also includes grants made earlier in the pledge period that have since received grant increases (a mechanism Ford uses to increase the size of an existing grant).