Indigenous Peoples Launch Self-Governed Forum to Shape Carbon Market Rules

Indigenous Peoples and local communities are establishing a self-led global forum to shape the future of the voluntary carbon market, with a first convening scheduled for June 2024. The forum was developed in response to demand from IPs and LCs for a platform to enforce their rights, build capacity, and engage as equal partners in carbon market governance.

The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market announced the creation of a global IP and LC-led VCM Engagement Forum following two years of consultation between the ICVCM, Indigenous leaders, and representative bodies worldwide. The Forum's goals include enforcing the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities within the market, strengthening their capacities as equal participants, and enhancing other market participants' understanding of how to effectively collaborate with IPs and LCs. It is scheduled to convene first in June 2024 to develop its strategic and engagement plan.

The Forum addresses a critical governance gap in the voluntary carbon market, where IPs and LCs manage 40% of the planet's ecologically intact landscapes yet remain among the most marginalised in accessing climate finance benefits. The ICVCM's Core Carbon Principles include requirements that projects assess risks to IPs and LCs, secure Free Prior and Informed Consent, and are transparent about benefit sharing. The Forum will inform the ICVCM's ongoing work to increase environmental and social ambition in successive versions of the CCP rulebook.

The Forum will be chaired by a chair and nominated vice-chair drawn from IPs and LCs across different world regions. ICVCM Board Members representing IPs and LCs include Jennifer Corpuz of the Kankana-ey Igorot community from the Philippines and Francisco Souza from the Apurinã Indigenous People of the Brazilian Amazon. The Forum is expected to establish itself as a global VCM platform governed by, for, and with Indigenous Peoples and local communities, with its strategic plan developed collaboratively to maximise climate finance flows to IP and LC communities.

Key figure — 40% of the planet's ecologically intact landscapes managed by Indigenous Peoples and local communities