Indigenous Stewards to Get 20% of Brazil’s New $5.5B Climate Fund

Indigenous communities, long the stewards of the world’s rainforests, are set to be major partners in a new $5.5 billion climate fund. Brazil’s “Tropical Forests Forever Facility,” proposed by President Lula da Silva, has a built-in rule dedicating 20 percent of its money to Indigenous peoples.
This move, announced at the Belem climate summit, recognizes the millennia of expertise these communities have in managing and preserving the lands now seen as critical to solving the climate crisis. A large presence of Indigenous tribes is expected at the talks.
The fund itself is a new approach to conservation. It aims to pay 74 developing nations to stop deforestation, financed by loans from wealthy nations and investors. This “pay-to-preserve” model is designed to make conservation economically viable.
The plan has already received a $3 billion pledge from Norway and is expected to get more from Germany. The goal is to protect vital carbon sinks like the Amazon, where the summit is being held.
This focus on an Indigenous-centered, finance-driven solution offers a hopeful path forward, even as the summit is marked by the absence of the world’s top polluters and grim warnings from the UN chief about “deadly negligence.”