The State of Funding for Tenure Rights report:
Funding progress for forest guardians threatened by global aid cuts
Funding for Indigenous and Local Communities' land tenure rights is up 46 %, but progress is threatened by global aid cuts, according to a new report released by Rainforest Foundation Norway and Rights and Resources Initiative. Organizations call on donors to increase funding ahead of COP30 summit.
INDIGENOUS: An Indigenous man from Peru. Photo: RRI
By Rainforest Foundation Norway.
Rainforest Foundation Norway and the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) have released the second edition of The State of Funding for Tenure Rights, a report that analyzes international trends for aid funding to strengthen tenure rights for Indigenous Peoples (IPs), Local Communities (LCs), and Afro-Descendant Peoples (ADPs). Together, these groups claim at least half of the world’s land, but have legal rights to just over 11 percent of it.
The new report finds that financial support for IPs and LCs and their rights and forest conservation projects has increased by 46 percent since the UNFCC COP26 was held in Glasgow in 2021, when donors pledged to give $1.7bn between 2021 and 2025. Over half of this increase is attributed to the Forest Tenure Funders Group (FTFG), the group of 25 donors behind COP26 Pledge.
However, the report also shows that funding peaked in 2021 and has since declined every year, potentially signaling a waning momentum. This decline could accelerate as several major government donors either cut aid budgets or struggle to meet targets following the global shift towards security and defense spending.
PERU: Indigenous Ashaninka women from Peru. Photo: RRI
COP30 summit critical for funding and forests
As the first-ever global climate summit held in the Amazon, COP30 in Brazil in November 2025 promises to be a significant global moment for the world’s tropical forests. The Brazilian COP30 Presidency has signaled high ambitions for IPs and other rights-holders at COP30 as a key partner in delivering progress on the Glasgow Forest Declaration to end deforestation and forest degradation by 2030.
However, the report shows a funding gap of $2.9 billion
towards 2030 to meet the funding level necessary to scale up community tenure rights in support of this target.
Glasgow’s COP26 was dubbed “The Nature COP” due to its strong emphasis on protecting nature as part of global climate action. This was reflected in the Glasgow Declaration of Forests and Land Use, where 144 countries signed up to end deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, and as part of that a specific commitment pledged US$ 1.7 bn to support IPs’ and LCs’ tenure rights until 2025.
“It is heartening to see the increase in donor attention and funding for IPs, LCs, and ADPs since 2021, but it also shows an alarming decline in that progress which means that communities are still not getting the funding levels necessary to achieve global climate and conservation targets. This report should serve as an impetus for donors across all sectors to raise their investment in scaling up funding delivered directly to IPs and LCs’ own organizations and funding mechanisms, and to carry forward the remarkable political leadership displayed at COP26 even if they weren’t part of the original Pledge.”
Solange Bandiaky-Badji, president and coordinator of Rights and Resources Initiative
“The COP26 Pledge has led to a real increase in support for Indigenous Peoples and local communities who are at the frontline of the fight to end deforestation. But this progress is fragile and increasingly threatened by the cuts in international aid. It is crucial that donors, in particular leading donor countries such as Germany, step up and commit to a new Land Tenure Pledge at COP30 that speeds up the funding towards 2030. The communities need to know that we have their backs.”
Toerris Jaeger, executive director of Rainforest Foundation Norway.
“We welcome and support all new donor commitments to help recognize, protect, and secure Indigenous Peoples' and local communities' land rights and tenure, and call for them to have an at least 40% target to directly fund IPs and LCs’ own organizations and funds. We have our mechanisms in place and ready. Let’s test them out! We are seeking funding partnerships of equals with donors, rooted in respect, where solutions are co-created with equitable distribution of benefits. And as we look toward COP30 and beyond, we offer a shared vision where our contributions are recognized, our rights upheld, and our leadership embraced.”
Rukka Sombolinggi, secretary general of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) and member of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities
Germany doubles funding
The report shows that the largest contributor to the COP26 IP and LC Pledge so far has been Germany, which has doubled their funding for IP, LCs and ADPs in since 2021. Current budget discussions in the German Parliament however will decide whether Germany will continue to play this leading role.
The report also finds that while funding has increased, there has yet to be a fundamental shift in how resources are delivered. Direct funding is low, while funding through international organizations and multilateral institutions still dominates. However, there has been a lot of groundwork to enable more direct support and IP, LC, and ADP-led funding mechanisms, which need continued support from donors.
Key findings from the report:
- Since 2021, annual disbursements for IP, LC, and ADP tenure rights have averaged $728 million per year, a 46 percent increase compared to the pre-Pledge period. However, funding peaked in 2021 and has declined every year since then, potentially signaling waning momentum.
- The COP26 IP and LC Forest Tenure Pledge was successful in mobilizing new resources for IP, LC, and ADP tenure rights funding, with over half of the global increase in funding since 2021 attributable to the Pledge signatories.
- While IP, LC, and ADP tenure rights funding has grown faster than overall climate finance, it remains less than one percent of climate-related aid and philanthropy.
- Some major donors have doubled their funding for IP, LC, and ADP tenure rights since 2020, including The World Bank and Germany who now contribute over one-third of total annual disbursements. Potential aid cuts from Germany could exacerbate this, as Germany has surpassed the US as the biggest bilateral donor.
- The Pledge led to an increase in overall funding disbursements in Africa, which have averaged $208 million annually from 2021–2024, driven largely by major World Bank and Global Environment Facilty projects.
- Asia saw steady growth in funding from 2018 onward, only to experience a sharp 26 percent decline in 2024 as several large multilateral projects concluded or slowed down, pulling its total funding level back to pre-Pledge levels.
While the funding ecosystem for IP and lC rights has expanded in size and laid the groundwork for more direct support, it has yet to see a fundamental shift in how resources are delivered.
Contact:
Kristin Rødland Buick
Senior Adviser, International Communications
(+44) 776 858 2930
kristin@rainforest.no