Cool Earth

Last week, during London Climate Action Week, Cash for Conservation members Equal Right, GiveDirectly, 100WEEKS, Cool Earth and Bridging Ventures brought together climate finance leaders, donors and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities for a working session on one question: how do we get climate finance directly into the hands of the people protecting the ecosystems we all depend on? We heard a powerful keynote from Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, President of the Association for Fulani Women and Indigenous Peoples of Chad, on why direct funding to frontline communities matters. Cool Earth, GiveDirectly, 100WEEKS and Faya Foundation then shared live case studies from their Cash for Conservation programmes in Africa & Latin America, moderated by Dr Patrick Brown of Equal Right. A closing panel with Marisol García Apagüeño (GATC), Marco Martinez (COICA), Josue Aruna (Congo Basin Conservation Society) and Eugene Karl Montoya Alessandri, moderated by Yolande Wright of GiveDirectly, dug into what genuine partnership between funders and IPLCs looks like in practice. The takeaway: unconditional cash transfers are not a vague, idealistic concept - they're a live, working model, with pilots and partnerships already running in over 10 countries. We have the solutions to deploy climate finance to last-mile communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis. What's needed now is more funders willing to back them. Thank you to everyone who joined us in the room, and to our speakers and panellists for their honesty and insight, especially during such a busy (and hot!) week of events in London. We're already looking at bringing this conversation to New York Climate Week and COP31. If you'd like to be part of it, the Cash for Conservation group is free and open to join, meeting every other month to share pilots, research and practical lessons on embedding direct cash transfers into conservation and nature programming. Get involved: https://lnkd.in/ety7vGaX

As London Climate Action Week began, Indigenous leaders from rainforest territories across the world joined the UK NGO Forest Coalition in a demonstration outside Parliament, to call for a fundamental shift in how climate finance is delivered. Indigenous Peoples and local communities protect some of the world's most important forests, yet continue to receive a tiny fraction of climate finance directly. Together, we called on the UK Government to: 📍 Increase the proportion of forest and climate finance delivered directly to Indigenous Peoples and local communities 📍 Improve transparency on how much funding currently reaches Indigenous-led organisations 📍 Establish regular and meaningful dialogue with Indigenous leaders to help remove barriers preventing finance from reaching frontline forest stewards Following the demonstration, Indigenous leaders met directly with MPs and government representatives, including Ruth Davis (UK Special Representative for Nature), Maggie Charnley (Head of the International Forests Unit at the FCDO), Pippa Heylings MP, Brian Mathew MP of the International Development Committee, Alex Sobel MP and Martin Rhodes MP of the APPG on Global Deforestation. These conversations provided an opportunity for Indigenous leaders to share firsthand experiences from the frontline of rainforest protection and discuss practical ways to improve the effectiveness and accessibility of UK climate finance. As part of these engagements, Indigenous leaders and coalition members formally presented an open letter to parliamentarians calling for greater transparency and increased direct finance for the communities already delivering climate, biodiversity and forest protection outcomes. Despite the big political announcement on the day, there was strong engagement with the letter's recommendations and growing recognition that Indigenous Peoples and local communities must be at the centre of climate finance solutions. Thank you to the Indigenous leaders from the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities who travelled to London to share their expertise, experience and leadership, to Cool Earth for organising the demo, and all coalition partners who helped make these conversations possible.

This week at #LCAW has been a profound reminder of where true leadership resides. I’ve had the privilege of spending time with some of the most inspiring voices in the nature and climate movement. To Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim , Juan Jintiach , Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, and every Indigenous leader and representative I’ve had the honour to meet: thank you. Thank you for defending life on Earth. For sharing your wisdom, lived experience and unwavering courage. For speaking truth to power and challenging the inertia that continues to hold us back. Indigenous Peoples protect the planet’s most vital ecosystems, yet for far too long, the financial flows needed to support this stewardship have failed to reach those on the frontlines. This must change now. The people protecting the future should not be the last to be funded. I’m also incredibly proud of the Cool Earth team, who have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to support Indigenous demands and ensure these voices are heard where decisions are being made. And thanks to our wonderful friends & partners NGO Forest Coalition Equal Right GiveDirectly for all your support.

How do you organise an Indigenous protest outside Parliament? Three months ago, I had absolutely no idea. Permits. Risk assessments. Media plans. Banners. Briefings. Coordination between charities, campaigners and Indigenous leaders from across the world's rainforests. It turns out there are a lot of moving parts. But on Monday morning, after months of planning, I found myself standing in Parliament Square alongside friends and colleagues, in solidarity with Indigenous leaders. We wanted to kick off London Climate Action Week with a bang. And I can proudly say we managed to do that! This protest was not just to raise awareness, but to call for more direct funding for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and greater transparency on where climate finance is actually going. Following the protest, we joined Indigenous leaders in Parliament, where they spoke directly with MPs and government representatives about the realities facing their communities, the solutions they're already delivering, and how the UK Government can support them. A huge thank you to everyone who made the day happen, especially our partners at Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, COICA ORG, everyone from the NGO Forest Coalition (what a team!), my amazing colleagues at Cool Earth, and Burness, Elm Media and Monty for their press and creative support.