ICVCM and VCMI Launch Engagement Forum for Indigenous Carbon Market Voices

The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market and the Voluntary Carbon Market Integrity Initiative launched a call for board nominations for a new Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities VCM Engagement Forum. The Forum was conceived to give IPs and LCs a structured, self-led voice in shaping high-integrity voluntary carbon market rules and governance.

The ICVCM and VCMI announced the creation of the IPs and LCs VCM Engagement Forum following two years of engagement and consultation, including a multi-stakeholder event at COP27 hosted alongside The Nature Conservancy. The Forum will be led by and for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, with a Governing Board drawn from diverse regional backgrounds. The Forum's goals include capacity building, enabling communities to manage ecosystem services, and strengthening IPs and LCs' ability to participate in carbon markets.

The Forum addresses a significant structural gap in voluntary carbon market governance: while Indigenous Peoples and local communities are among the most important stewards of natural carbon sinks, they have historically received the least benefit from carbon finance and have been under-represented in market governance. ICVCM Board Member Francisco Souza, from the Apurinã Indigenous People of the Brazilian Amazon, noted that a high-integrity VCM must ensure communities can continue managing vital ecosystem services while having their rights recognised.

Applications for Governing Board membership were encouraged from women and individuals from diverse Indigenous and local community backgrounds. The Forum will identify IPs and LCs priorities, facilitate engagement with market participants, and provide technical assistance to communities involved in carbon projects. Organisations and individuals interested in becoming Forum partners were also invited to apply. The initiative reflects the ICVCM's Core Carbon Principles requirement for Free, Prior and Informed Consent and transparent benefit sharing in all CCP-labelled projects.

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