Conservation, Verified Impacts, and Market Opportunities
FSC IF
Puerto Iguazú, Argentina | September 8–9
Discover how responsible forest management can create tangible financing opportunities. The 2nd FSC Latin America Ecosystem Services Forum will provide a platform to explore real-world experiences, FSC Verified Impact mechanisms, and opportunities that strengthen conservation and the sustainable management of forest landscapes.
The Forum is an FSC regional platform that connects verified ecosystem services impacts with the marketplace.
It brings together forest communities, businesses, financial institutions, and decision-makers to showcase real-world cases, operational mechanisms, and evidence-based sponsorship opportunities.
More than just an event, the Forum is a space where responsible land stewardship is translated into verifiable information and meaningful market opportunities.
Source: Information adapted from the official website of the 2nd FSC Latin America Ecosystem Services Forum.
Indigenous Peoples Call for Rights-Based Climate Finance at Ninth FRLD Board Meeting
Putting Indigenous rights at the center of climate finance
FSC IF
Photos by FRLD, Kalea Aquino
Manila, Philippines | 8–10 July 2026
The Ninth Meeting of the Board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) brought together Board members, governments, Indigenous Peoples, civil society, and international organizations in Manila, Philippines, to advance decisions on one of the world’s newest climate finance mechanisms.
Established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement, the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage aims to provide financial support to countries and communities facing the irreversible impacts of climate change. As climate-related disasters become more frequent and severe, the decisions made by the Board will shape how resources are mobilized, governed, and delivered to those most affected.
FSC Indigenous Foundation participated in the meeting through Kalea Adrienne Aquino, Regional Focal Point for Asia and the Pacific, who followed the negotiations and supported the participation of the Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations (IPO) Constituency.
Indigenous Peoples call for meaningful participation and direct access
In its closing statement, delivered by Kalea, the IPO Constituency welcomed the opportunity to engage in the Board’s work while expressing concern that several key decisions were adopted without adequately reflecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights or participation.
The Constituency also highlighted four key priorities for the Fund moving forward:
Increase the scale of climate finance to reflect the growing needs of communities experiencing loss and damage, with greater contributions from historically high-emitting countries.
Establish direct access to funding for Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and communities, reducing reliance on intermediary institutions.
Embed Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) within the Fund’s Results Management Framework to ensure activities affecting Indigenous territories respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights.
Strengthen Indigenous participation by adopting the Active Observer Policy, enabling Indigenous Peoples to engage more effectively and transparently in Board decision-making.
Looking ahead to the Tenth Board Meeting (B10) in Barbados, the IPO Constituency called for concrete progress on these priorities, emphasizing that climate finance must be rights-based, accessible, and accountable to the communities most affected by climate change.
For Indigenous Peoples, responding to loss and damage is not only about mobilizing financial resources. It is about ensuring that climate finance respects Indigenous rights, recognizes Indigenous governance systems, and reaches the communities that have long safeguarded the world’s ecosystems while bearing a disproportionate share of the climate crisis.
Missed the discussion? Watch the recording of Day 3 of the Ninth Meeting of the Board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD).
The project focuses on a specific group of Indigenous communities, where, through a biodiversity monitoring system supported by artificial intelligence, 211 high-value species (9 of which are endangered) were identified, including 199 birds, five mammals, and seven amphibians, representing a significant advance in local knowledge of the biodiversity present in community forests.
Photos: FSC-IF / Hayro Cunampio
This initiative supported the Emberá-Wounaan peoples in sharing their knowledge about forest health and the importance of the species that inhabit their territories. In this context, Muriche Cheucarama, leader of the Puerto Lara community, noted: “With this knowledge, the people must take further steps to meet their goals and achieve greater sustainability through the forest. Everything that is being done is for the benefit of the community.”
Co-creation of an innovative label
At the heart of the initiative is the creation of a distinctive label that recognizes the contributions of Indigenous Cultural Landscapes and helps connect Indigenous products and services with consumers and markets that value culture, conservation, and sustainable livelihoods. To support its development, FSC-IF has begun working with Indigenous focus groups to ensure that the label reflects Indigenous perspectives, priorities, and realities.
Community Thriving Narrative
In addition, the project incorporates the Community Well-being Narrative as a key component of the monitoring system, in partnership with HiH, If Not Us Then Who, and Ulu Films, with the aim of gathering and presenting a qualitative account of community well-being as told by Indigenous Peoples themselves.
Photo: FSC-IF / Fredy Duque
As part of this initiative, the communities produced videos based on the topics of greatest local interest. In Puerto Lara, the video addressed the issue of access to drinking water; in Alto Playón, the narrative focused on the impact of migration on local livelihoods; and in Arimae and Embera Puru, the video documented the impacts experienced during the protests against Law 462 in 2025 in Panama.
This process also helped build local capacity in the use of audiovisual tools as a means of expression, documentation, and community outreach. As young Samuel Cheucarama from the community of Puerto Lara put it, “We never thought this could happen—to see the video we recorded ourselves.” He added, “We learned a lot, and there were some points that really struck me, because just imagine that with videos alone we can create a story, record it, and publish it. Plus, this town is a tourist destination, and there are organizations we can support through this.”
Self-determination and Indigenous Rights
All of this work is carried out in accordance with the principles of free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), data sovereignty, and respect for Indigenous rights, combining innovation and ancestral knowledge in digital solutions validated by the Indigenous Peoples themselves.
Other initiatives, such as the community of practice, create a space for learning among Indigenous Peoples, which becomes a key tool for identifying their own paths to development, while strengthening community governance and the capacity to make long-term decisions.
Another key component of the project is participatory long-term economic planning through the FSC Economic Viability Tool. This process helps communities identify opportunities and challenges, and make collective, data-based decisions that increase their well-being.
Learn more about the project
May News and Highlights
Indigenous voices in Santa Marta, New York, Cambridge (UK)
FSC IF
“For us, biodiversity is life,” Minnie Degawan
From safeguarding forests and mountains to nurturing sustainable food systems, Indigenous communities have long been stewards of nature through ancestral wisdom and deep responsibility to the land.
A Call for Integrated Action on Climate, Biodiversity, and Land Crises
Explore the need for stronger collaboration across the Rio Conventions. Indigenous leadership and knowledge are essential for addressing climate, biodiversity, and land crises through integrated solutions.
From Commitment to Action:
Scaling Sustainable Forest Management Halting Degradation and Deforestation (UNFF21 Side Event, FSC). “There is more value to the wood, the land, the forest, the water, the soil, plants, crawlers, swimmers, the fliers. This is why we say all our relations,” David Flood, Matachewan First Nation.
First International Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels
In the event, it was highlighted that exchanges between Indigenous Peoples communities strengthen territorial solutions and sustainable forest-based livelihoods…
Nature Action Dialogues
Learning from Indigenous knowledge and leadership: Inspiring business models for nature and people “The quality of life and care of nature are more important than economic profit…” Niila Inga, Sámi People.
