The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market has recently named the members of a Forum that will give Indigenous Peoples and local communities a strong voice in shaping a high-integrity voluntary carbon market (VCM) that protects and promotes their rights and interests.
Eight representatives from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Oceania and the Northern Region will make up the Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Communities’ Voluntary Carbon Market Engagement Forum. While the Forum will be hosted by the Integrity Council it will be independent and self-governing.
Onel Masardule, Interim co-Chair, said: “Indigenous Peoples and local communities play a vital role in protecting our forests and natural world and it is essential that they should benefit from carbon credit projects. We must ensure their rights are preserved and there are sufficient safety nets to allow them to be actively involved in the voluntary carbon market and developing solutions for climate change. The Forum will be an important catalyst to achieve this.”
Annette Nazareth, Chair of the Integrity Council, said: “The Forum will ensure that Indigenous Peoples and local communities have a strong voice in shaping a high-integrity VCM that empowers them to manage vital ecosystem services. It is of primary importance that projects generating carbon credits deliver sustainable development benefits for the communities where they are hosted, ranging from financial profit and project ownership to job creation and well-being. The Integrity Council will rely on the Forum to inform its approach as we continue to ratchet up ambition in the VCM in successive versions of our Core Carbon Principles.”
The voluntary carbon market enables organisations to buy carbon credits representing one tonne of CO2 reduced or removed from the atmosphere. It is a vital tool to unlock private finance to fund climate solutions and channel investment to the Global South, supporting the transition to net zero emissions.
The Forum aims to support and strengthen the participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in the VCM and increase the benefits they derive from it. It will:
- Help ensure the VCM contributes to the climate objectives of the Paris Agreement while safeguarding the rights and interests of Indigenous Peoples and local communities;
- Identify Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ priorities and strategically engage with the Integrity Council and other organisations working for high-integrity markets;
- Identify opportunities for Indigenous Peoples and local communities and support and empower communities on the ground, providing technical assistance and sharing best practice; and,
- Strengthen and coordinate Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ engagement with the market and enable other market participants to collaborate more effectively with Indigenous Peoples.
The Forum will meet every two months. Members act in their personal capacity and represent Indigenous Peoples and local communities from their region. They held their first meeting early in July and will elect two co-Chairs at their next meeting in September.
The members are (see Appendix for biographies and headshots):
- Africa – Diel Mochire Mwenge
- Africa – Stella Napanu
- Asia – Jagat Bahadur Baram
- Asia – Mamta Lama
- Latin America – Fermin Chimatani Tayori
- Latin America – Onel Masardule, interim co-Chair
- Northern Region – Leighton Gall
- Oceania – Dawn Katovai
Members are now focused on developing the Forum’s strategic plan to establish itself as a global platform governed by, for and with Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and ensure that a high-integrity VCM increases flows of finance to support the priorities and needs of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
The Forum is the principal output of a workshop hosted by the Integrity Council and The Nature Conservancy at COP 27 where Indigenous representatives highlighted the need for closer coordination and targeted capacity building to support strengthened engagement of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in a high-integrity voluntary carbon market.
The Integrity Council’s Core Carbon Principles (CCPs ®) establish a global benchmark for high-integrity carbon credits. The CCP label will assure buyers that carbon credits are based on the latest science and deliver genuine emissions reductions.
The CCPs break new ground by requiring all new projects to put in place robust social and environmental safeguards that deliver positive sustainable development impacts. Carbon-crediting programs must ensure that projects assess and mitigate risks to Indigenous Peoples and local communities, operate by free, prior informed consent, and are transparent about how the project shares benefits with Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
A work programme is already well underway to advise the Integrity Council on how to further strengthen the criteria on sustainable development and environmental and social safeguards in the next version of the CCP rulebook, due for implementation in 2026.
