On this International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, let’s hear directly from community leaders as they reflect on the legacy and prospects of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) Dedicated Grant Mechanism (DGM).
Kapupu Diwa Mutimanwa was the first member of his community, the Pygmy peoples of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to attend university. Today, he is a respected leader within the DGM governance system and has successfully advocated for the recognition of Indigenous rights in his country. “The forest belongs to us, we have a symbiotic relationship with nature,” he says. With DGM support, 40 000 Pygmy women and men have learned to read and write. Capacity building, with activities such as literacy education, is a key pillar of the DGM program and supports the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) in the international effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and promote sustainable forest management and forest carbon stocks.
Since 2009, CIF’s DGM has allocated more than $70 million under the Forest Investment Program to empower IPLCs, including Pygmy peoples, to sustainably manage natural resources, restore land access, and fight climate change applying local and traditional knowledge. The FIP DGM is implemented by the World Bank, with funding reaching communities directly thanks to a unique governance model conceived and managed by the IPLCs themselves. In June 2023, a new direct financing window through the DGM was approved, with $40 million in grant funding to support IPLCs to advance climate action in countries selected as part of the Nature, People and Climate program: Brazil, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, Kenya, Rwanda, and Africa’s Zambezi River Basin region.
The new funding was announced in Brasilia, Brazil, during an event celebrating CIF’s 15th anniversary. DGM and IPLC representatives from Brazil and beyond joined the celebration, conveying to participants their support for the DGM program. One of the world’s most prominent Indigenous leaders, Sônia Guajajara, who is also Brazil’s first Minister of Indigenous Peoples, said during her plenary session speech: “The Dedicated Grant Mechanism has allowed the Indigenous movement to become stronger, with strengthened local actions.” After listening to the Minister, Anália Tuxá, leader of the Tuxá people (Minas Gerais) and a DGM National Steering Committee member, explained: “DGM brings this empowerment to Indigenous peoples and traditional communities: they make the decisions. They decide what is best to bring to their territories and can talk about their ways of life and reach out to donors and observers. So, for us it was a very great achievement, because instead of us having a third person go there and talk for us, today we have agency.”
Empowering IPLCs is not only the right thing to do, but also the smart thing to do to progress the collective fight against climate change. Saro Legborsi Pyagbara, Executive Director of Nigeria’s Indigenous Centre for Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development, explains: “The targets for DGM are Indigenous peoples and local communities. Who are these people? They are amongst the poorest, they don’t have access to resources. But, at the same time, they have a wealth of knowledge about the challenges we have in terms of climate change and biodiversity loss. They have their own way of knowledge. With DGM, we try to see how resources can get to the local level, addressing at the same time three basic things: livelihood restoration, climate change and biodiversity. The beauty of the DGM is it empowers local people, it empowers Indigenous women at the local level, to take climate action on their own and thereby contribute to restore our planet.”
Indigenous knowledge, accumulated over centuries, offers sustainable solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. About 90% of IPLC lands are carbon sinks, and Indigenous-managed areas have been shown to sequester over twice the amount of carbon. For example, in the Amazon, Indigenous lands experienced a forest carbon loss of less than 0.3%, whereas non-Indigenous protected areas suffered a loss of 0.6% between 2003 and 2016. IPLCs also protect around 80% of the world's remaining biodiversity, notably in Brazil’s Amazon and Cerrado regions.
IPLCs in 11 countries, including Brazil, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico, Mozambique, Nepal, Peru, and the Republic of Congo, have received DGM funding since inception. Concrete results of DGM grant funding include 133 Peruvian communities achieving recognition of their claims to approximately 400,000 ha of land. In that same country, 180 native communities were recognized, and 50 women-led projects supported. In Burkina Faso, 182,000 beneficiaries were trained thanks to DGM funding. 57% of these beneficiaries were women. Overall, DGM has a proven track record in building trust, inclusion, and a sense of ownership, meeting community needs, building capacity, and fostering transparent governance.