A major international climate initiative has officially surpassed its financial targets, yet experts argue that the distribution of these funds remains deeply flawed. Between 2021 and 2025, donors delivered US$2.35 billion to support land tenure for Indigenous peoples and local communities, exceeding the initial US$1.7 billion pledge made at the COP26 climate summit by 35%. Despite this fiscal milestone, critics are calling for a radical overhaul in how these resources reach the front lines of forest conservation.
## The Paradox of Intermediary Funding
While the total amount of money moving into the sector is significant, the proportion reaching Indigenous-led organizations directly remains startlingly low. According to the final report from the Forest Tenure Funders Group (FTFG), only 7.2% of the US$486 million donated in 2025 went directly to community organizations. The vast majority of capital continues to flow through traditional intermediaries, such as international NGOs, development banks, and consulting firms.
This dependence on middlemen has triggered concerns regarding transparency and efficacy. Indigenous leaders have reported a rise in “performative” organizational structures, where intermediaries recruit Indigenous representatives to their boards simply to qualify for specific funding streams. Such practices, they argue, dilute the agency of local populations and fail to incorporate the unique worldviews and governance models that make indigenous-led land management effective.
## Technological Shifts and the Need for Better Data
The challenge of tracking where funds ultimately land is an area where modern digital infrastructure could play a role. Currently, the reporting process is fragmented and often obscured by the complex layers of international development agencies. As the industry looks toward the next pledge cycle—a new US$1.8 billion commitment for 2026–2030 announced at COP30—there is a growing call for more sophisticated, transparent tracking systems.
Advocates suggest that blockchain-enabled ledgers or decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms could eventually provide the granular visibility required to ensure that money intended for remote forests actually reaches the territories. Such tech-driven solutions could minimize the “leakage” that happens when funds move through numerous bureaucratic layers, potentially providing the accountability that Myrna Cunningham Kain, chair of the Pawanka Fund, and other activists say is currently missing from the system.
## Geographic Inequality and Future Goals
The data also highlights a severe regional imbalance. Latin America secured 71% of the total funding, while Africa and the Asia-Pacific region received significantly less. The report suggests that underfunded regions remain disproportionately vulnerable to deforestation and extractive pressures. Furthermore, funding earmarked for gender equality and youth engagement has dwindled, with less than 1% of the 2025 total focused specifically on young people.
Looking ahead, the new commitment for the next five years attempts to broaden its scope by including Afro-descendant communities and promising more flexible financing terms. However, experts emphasize that for these pledges to be meaningful, the donor relationship must transition from a top-down model to one of true partnership.
“The figure of the result doesn’t tell us how much actually reached the territories,” noted Cunningham. For the upcoming cycle, the target is clear: unless donors prioritize direct access to Indigenous-led funds—ideally aiming for at least 20% of the total—the structural barriers that have plagued the last five years are likely to persist, regardless of how much capital is raised.
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