STATEMENT: Nations Announce Pledges to Help Indigenous Peoples, Afro-Descendants, and Native Communities’ Land Rights and Finance

Belém, Brazil (November 6, 2025) — At the COP30 Leaders’ Summit, nations introduced three international commitments that acknowledge and help the position of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendants and native communities in defending forests with elevated finance and stronger land rights.

These landmark pledges embody a renewed Forest and Land Tenure pledge for $1.8 billion in funding via 2030; the Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment, co-led by Brazil, Norway and Peru, which goals to safe and formally acknowledge 160 million hectares of land for these communities; and the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), which features a goal requiring 20% of funds to go to Indigenous Peoples and native communities.

Following is a press release from Wanjira Mathai, Managing Director for Africa and Global Partnerships, World Resources Institute:

“Together these initiatives demonstrate a massive and welcome shift in recognizing the central role that Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendants, and local communities play in protecting the forests that sustain us all. These pledges represent both a matter of justice for these communities, survival for our forests, and necessity for our climate goals.

“Research shows that when communities have secure land rights, forests flourish. Deforestation rates on lands stewarded by Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendants and local communities are up to 26% lower than the global average. These communities steward more than 54% of the world’s intact forest, and their lands often hold higher biodiversity and store more carbon.

“Yet today communities lack legal recognition for over 1.3 billion hectares of their traditional lands, limiting their access to capital and decision-making power. That’s why the Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment is so critical, as it could catalyze political momentum in more countries to set national targets for recognizing land rights.

“Stronger land rights and more direct access to finance go hand in hand. Only around 10% of the prior $1.7 billion Forest Tenure Pledge directly reached Indigenous Peoples and local communities. This renewed pledge must ensure more direct access to finance and spur a power shift — from projects designed for communities to solutions led and owned by them.

“These commitments could be transformative, but only if governments turn these words into action.”