Around thirty indigenous organizations around the world urged today the Board of Directors of the Green Climate Fund to immediately adopt a policy that ensures the protection of their rights in any project that this mechanism finances.
“Our lives depend on the very ecosystems that are so crucial for adaptation and mitigation, and that we have managed to preserve so far through our ancestral knowledge and sustainable use of resources,” they said in their statement.
A draft policy has been presented by indigenous peoples at the 19th Session of the Board of Directors of the Green Climate Fund, which began on Monday in Songdo, South Korea.
Although it was expected to be approved immediately, members of the Tebtebba indigenous association – who attend this meeting – say that the issue has been postponed from the agenda. “Indigenous Policy Now!” Is the demand expressed through their social networks, which is shared by indigenous leaders and organizations around the world.
CHIRAPAQ, Center for Indigenous Cultures of Peru, joined the organizations that have raised this request at the meeting in South Korea. Peru was the first country in Latin America that was designated to receive funding from the Green Climate Fund. CHIRAPAQ has repeatedly expressed the need for greater and better articulation between the State, GCF’s Accredited Entities and indigenous organizations that can make sustainable the projects financed by the Green Climate Fund.
Implementing social and environmental safeguards and guaranteeing the free, prior and informed consent of local communities are some of the demands that the adoption of this indigenous policy would allow to address.
“We urge you to approve the proposed Policy in its current formulation at
B19 without further delay.” – Statement of Indigenous Peoples on the Adoption of the Indigenous Peoples Policy during the 19th Meeting of the Board of the Green Climate Fund #GCFund #ippolicynow pic.twitter.com/RHeNqLe71T— Tebtebba (@tebtebba) 25 de febrero de 2018
