Indigenous Peoples Observers Statement at the CIF-GCAP Meeting

CIF-Global Climate Action Program (GCAP) Sub-Committee Meeting

24 June 2022

Indigenous Peoples Observers Statement at the CIF-GCAP Meeting

Agenda Item 4- Update On Nature, People And Climate (NPC) Program

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of Indigenous Peoples observers on this agenda item.

1. For us, the Dedicated Grant Mechanism (DGM) for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) has been a pioneering initiative by CIF that has allowed various communities to work together to achieve local and global objectives. With only USD 80 million, which represents 10 % of FIP investments, we IPLCs have managed to strengthen the local governance system and implement very innovative projects with the participation of men and women in 12 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America and achieve their participation in the discussion of local and global climate solutions.  
2. The DGM pilot project has achieved the participation of 260,000 IPLCs (50% women) in 7 countries, 628 IPLC-designed and selected projects implemented in 8 countries, of which 33% are women-led or women-focused, and a global and national level governance structure of 246 elected IPLC leaders, and a total of 230,239 hectares of native land titled in Peru. At the regional level, 8 exchanges have been carried out that allow the exchange of best practices. In addition, 3 global exchanges were held to strengthen the capacity of IPLCs to fully and effectively participate in COP UNFCCC negotiations.  
3. It is on this note that we want to thank CIF for the continued partnership and support that it has provided for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, including women and children, through the DGM for IPLCs under the Forest Investment Program (FIP).
4. We fully appreciate the further consideration of the CIF in relation to  expanding the DGM for IPLCs beyond forests or the FIP countries.This is in consideration of  DGM under the new GCAP (Global Climate Action Programs) including under Nature, People and Climate Program, as well as, the Renewable Energy Integration Program.
5. Providing DGM under NPC/REI programs will definitely be helpful for IPLCs in the countries that submitted their expressions of interests to the GCAP. In such situation, we hope to replicate the IP-led effective engagement with the countries; and appropriate governance mechanisms developed for the DGM under FIP, learning from lessons on this DGM experience with necessary arrangements per country.
6. Under these new GCAP programs and new phase of CIFprograms for just transition, we hope for more support towards more meaningful community participation and empowerment, as already stressed in the previous sessions. We can also capitalize on the DGM model as one successful partnership with the CIF and the governments, among other options. We hope further that each beneficiary country will also provide specific support beyond the DGM, as they continue to implement their CIF programs at national and subnational levels.
7. Whilst we appreciate the proposal of expansion of the DGM beyond FIP, we propose that in the spirit of ensuring more access and participation of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities globally, direct access to funding from the CIF and other climate finance mechanisms remain a key. The resources from DGM should be expanded beyond countries applying but targeted at giving direct access of resources to IPLC with the greater need for survival and at the forefronts of the struggle against climate change.
8. DGM projects have not started at the same time in all countries, instead it has been implemented in a staggered way some countries with successful projects and results are closing their activities, while we also have countries that are starting now and want to continue receiving the accumulated experience through regional and global exchanges. 
9. On the Nature, People and Climate Programme (NPC) as a whole, we wish to state that the call for expression of interest put it in place by CIF for the Programme is a very welcome initiative and we appreciate the additional resources coming in from donors to enlarge the fund and countries’ participation. As the World Bank has detailed, natural climate solutions offer “convenient solutions to an inconvenient truth”—multiple benefits, such as water filtration, flood buffering, improved soil health, protection of habitat and enhanced climate resilience. Additionally, natural climate solutions offer up to 37 percent of the emission reductions needed by 2030 to keep global temperature increases less than 2 degrees celsius-30 percent more than previously estimated. Using only cost-effective solutions, nature's mitigation potential is estimated at 11.3 billion tons in 2030—the equivalent of stopping burning oil globally.
10. It is on this note therefore, that we are appealing and kindly requesting for additional priority to be given to the Nature, People, Climate program, and by extension to the Dedicated Grant Mechanism as a key modality for empowering many grassroots peoples to directly address the challenges of losses of forests, degradation of landscapes, climate-induced migration, food insecurity, and biodiversity loss, among other climate-related challenges.

             Thank you