New Forum will give Indigenous Peoples and local communities a strong voice in shaping high-integrity voluntary carbon market

Eight members represent diverse regions and cultures.

The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market has today 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.

ENDS.

For more information and to arrange interviews please contact:

• Georgia Crump [email protected] +44 7565 398747
• David Mason [email protected] +44 7799 072320

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (Integrity Council) is an independent governance body for the voluntary carbon market, which aims to ensure the voluntary carbon market accelerates a just transition to 1.5°C.

The Integrity Council aims to set and maintain a voluntary global threshold standard for quality in the voluntary carbon market. The threshold standard is based on the Integrity Council’s Core Carbon Principles (CCPs ®) and is implemented through an Assessment Framework that sets out what high quality means by reference to those principles. The result is a threshold standard and label that provide a credible, rigorous, and readily accessible means of identifying high-quality carbon credits.

APPENDIX

Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Engagement Forum Members

Diel Mochire Mwenge – Africa Regional Member

Diel was born in Lukando, a Batwa Bambuti Babuluko Pygmy from the province of North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is a national expert on Indigenous and minority issues. As a scholarship holder of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, he took the training course on Indigenous peoples in Geneva in 2011 and is currently working in the Integrated Programme for the Development of the Pygmy People, where he is Provincial Director.

He is the RAPELEF/DRC focal point in North Kivu province and an expert at REPALEAC. He is a senior advisor to ANAPAC, and a former expert as a member of the Board of Directors of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the CBD Alliance. He is currently a member of the ZTI Steering Committee.

Stella Napanu – Africa Regional Member

“I have seen how changes in the environment have affected the livelihoods of my people and our wildlife. I look to this Forum to find ways to ensure the rights and interests of our people are met and our biodiversity is protected and conserved.”

Stella is a conservation scientist specialising in ecosystem health, particularly in rangelands management. She currently works with the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) as a County Director, overseeing community conservancy governance and rangelands programs for community conservancies in Samburu County.

Stella also serves as the chairperson of the National Conservancies Youth Forum under the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association (KWCA), ensuring meaningful youth engagement in conservation areas nationwide.

She is a board member of the National Conservancies Council, representing the youth’s voice in conservation matters. Additionally, she is a multi-talented artist with expertise in both visual and performing arts.

Jagat Bahadur Baram – Asia Regional Member

“Since ancient time, Indigenous Peoples have been protecting and promoting water, forest and land. Indigenous Peoples worship natural resources such as air, water and land. Indigenous Peoples consider the land as God – they are the protectors of water, forest and land. Indigenous Peoples also believe in traditional values, beliefs and practices, they know the different herbs in the forest, and they know which herbs are medicinal and for what and how they can be used, so Indigenous Peoples are also natural scientists.”

Jagat is an Executive Council Member of Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) located in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He is a Chief Advisor and Former Chairperson of Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) based in Nepal and the former Co-chair of Dedicated Grant Mechanism (DGM) Nepal. He has expertise in free, prior, informed consent, climate change, land tenure rights as well as a long working experience on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, conservation, national parks, hunting reserve and the field of human rights.

Mamta Lama – Asia Regional Member

“I want to champion the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and ensure they are well-represented in carbon market discussions, including land tenure and control, heritage and traditional knowledge. I want to influence the development of policies and standards to ensure that Indigenous Peoples get fair benefits when they’re involved in carbon credit projects.”

Mamta is a landscape specialist dedicated to bridging the gap between the capacities of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and their ability to meaningfully engage in the voluntary carbon market. Serving as a Program Officer for the Landscapes Collaboration in a Changing Climate at RECOFTC in Bangkok, Thailand, Mamta collaborates in creating capacity-building materials for IPs and LCs, ensuring their active participation and representation in carbon projects.

With practical experiences in the dynamics of carbon projects and the engagement process with local communities in various landscapes in Asia, Mamta provides valuable insights into the demands, challenges and operational gaps in implementing carbon projects. Her work emphasises participatory land-use planning, community engagement, nature-based solutions and integrating landscape perspectives with data-driven approaches to enhance the effectiveness and impact of their programs.

Mamta holds an MSc in Applied GIS from the University of Sheffield and a BSc in Forestry from Tribhuvan University. She is committed to ensuring that Asian perspectives are clearly represented in the Forum, making certain that IPs and LCs in Asia have their voices heard and their contributions recognised. Coming from the Tamang community in Nepal, Mamta’s Indigenous background further enriches her understanding and advocacy for IPs and LCs.

Fermin Chimatani Tayori – Latin America Regional Member

“My vision is a future where Indigenous Peoples and local communities are acknowledged as key partners in the fight against climate change. I hope that together we can build a voluntary carbon market that distributes benefits equitably among Indigenous Peoples for the conservation of their forests, with full and effective participation.”

Fermin is leader of the Harakbut Indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon, with a career of 19 years dedicated to strengthening Indigenous and community organisations. His work has focused on the implementation of the intercultural environmental governance model known as “co-management” in the Communal Reserves of Peru.

With a background in social studies, he has managed several conservation and eco-business development projects, using an ecosystem-based approach to adaptation. He has a deep knowledge in public management applied to the administration of communal reserves, as well as skills to evaluate, diagnose and propose plans and strategies that address social, environmental, economic and cultural issues in Natural Protected Areas and their associated landscapes.

He has held positions as president of the Contract Executor Administrator of the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve ECA Amarakaeri and re-elected and currently chairs the National Association of Contract Executors of Administration of Communal Reserves of Peru- ANECAP.

His experience includes roles as a consultant and trainer in conservation, sustainable development and participatory management. He is a promoter of the RIA-REDD+ Amazon Indigenous with a focus on Communal Reserves Administration Contracts. In addition, he is part of the Technical Committee of the Socio-Cultural Architecture for Redd+ Transactions (ART) initiative and is a member of the Advisory Board of the KAWARI Fund for Integrity in Forest Carbon Markets: Re Wild and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Senior Management of the Natural Protected Areas of Peru.

Onel Masardule – Latin America Regional Member and interim co-Chair

“Indigenous Peoples 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.”

Onel is a Guna Indigenous person from Panama. He has a degree in science with studies in chemistry and specialisation courses in sustainable development and Phytotechnology for the Treatment of Industrial Effluents. He also has diplomas in Environmental Management and Audit and Integrated Management of Water Resources.

He has extensive experience in the promotion of the rights of Indigenous Peoples in the environmental area, having been coordinator for environmental projects. He is Executive Director of the Foundation for the Promotion of Indigenous Knowledge and Technical Secretary of the Indigenous Forum of Abya Yala (FIAY), Indigenous Representative of Mesoamerica in Carbon Fund of World Bank. He is also a member in WGF of the Local Communities and Indigenous People’s Platform under the framework of UNFCCC. He has consulted for the World Bank, the Government of Panama, Mexico, El Salvador, the German International Cooperation System and academic institutions.
 

Leighton Gall – Northern Regional Member

“High-integrity carbon credits are an important tool for preserving our forests – if they’re cut down and used for something else we lose that resource. They can also mobilise the finance and resource capital we need to develop better social projects.”

Leighton is a dedicated Fellow specialising in Indigenous Energy Systems, Worldviews and their global scalability. With a Master of Global Management, he brings a unique perspective to the intersection of technology, environment and social systems. Currently pursuing his doctorate, Leighton is passionate about integrating traditional knowledge with modern advancements to create sustainable energy solutions. A proud member of the Métis Nation, his research aims to elevate Canadian Indigenous practices on a global stage, fostering innovation that respects and enhances cultural heritage.

Dawn Katovai – Oceania Regional Member

“I am committed to advocating for marginalised groups, especially women and Indigenous communities in my region, to ensure the protection and preservation of our cultural and environmental heritage. I aim to ensure that these communities are well-informed about carbon credit initiatives and can directly access the benefits they provide. These initiatives will help preserve our forests and biodiversity while promoting economic empowerment and environmental stewardship. Through knowledge sharing and collaboration, I strive to create lasting, positive change in the livelihoods of our communities and preserve our heritage for future generations.”

Dawn Katovai is from the Mamafoira clan of Wuvulu Island, Papua New Guinea. She has a background in academia with experience in teaching, research and fieldwork. In her 15 years of teaching, 13 of those were spent in tertiary level where she was a lecturer in Biology and Environmental Science. She holds a Master of Science in Ecology and Conservation from James Cook University, Australia. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, focusing on the impact of land-use change on ecological connectivity in coastal forests across Pacific Island Countries. She believes that maintaining healthy, connected forests is critical for Indigenous communities in sustaining their livelihood and preserving cultural heritage and enhancing resilience to environmental changes. Dawn is also assisting a Solomon Islands REDD+ project working with at least 50 tribes across six provinces in the Solomon Islands. The experience she has gained working with Indigenous communities can help bridge the gap between scientific research and community-based conservation efforts.

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The Integrity Council recognises Indigenous Peoples and / or local communities as different and distinct peoples with discreet rights and interests as expressed in international and national instruments, and in traditional laws.