Who Should Control Climate Money? Indigenous Communities Are Done Waiting for an Answer

Here is a hard truth about climate finance: the communities doing the most to protect our planet's forests, waterways, and ecosystems are receiving the least amount of funding to do it. For more than a decade, Indigenous and local communities have been told that change is coming and that the money is on its way. And yet, by most estimates, only 1 to 2 percent of international climate and nature finance has actually reached frontline Indigenous communities directly. That is not a funding gap. That is a structural failure.

But something significant is shifting. And it is not coming from the top down.

A New Generation of Indigenous-Led Funds Is Rising

Since 2020, more than half a dozen new Indigenous-led climate and nature funds have emerged, particularly across Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico. These are not supplementary programs nested inside larger donor institutions. They are sovereign, community-designed financial structures built to move money faster, more flexibly, and more respectfully than traditional donor systems have ever managed to do.

The message from these communities is clear and long overdue: if the world trusts Indigenous peoples to be the guardians of the forests and the science overwhelmingly confirms that Indigenous-managed lands are among the most biodiverse and carbon-rich on Earth, then the world must also trust them to manage the resources needed to protect those lands.

As one natural resources leader at the Ford Foundation put it, the ask is simple and powerful: if you trust us to protect the forests, trust us with the finance.

The Problem With "Traditional" Green Finance

To understand why these new funds matter, it helps to understand what they are pushing back against. For years, international climate and nature finance has flowed through large institutions, multilateral development banks, and donor-controlled mechanisms based primarily in the Global North. While well-intentioned, these systems often come loaded with complex application procedures, bureaucratic reporting requirements, and decision-making processes that reflect the priorities and timelines of donors — not the lived realities of frontline communities.

The result? Money moves slowly. Communities wait. Forests burn. Ecosystems collapse. And the people with the deepest knowledge and the strongest motivation to act are left on the sidelines of the very conversations meant to save the places they call home.

This is not just an inefficiency problem. It is a justice problem.

Decolonising Green Finance — What That Actually Means

The phrase "decolonising finance" can sound abstract, but in practice it means something very concrete: shifting power, decision-making authority, and direct access to resources away from donor-controlled systems and into the hands of the communities most affected by climate change and biodiversity loss.

Indigenous-led funds are doing exactly that. They are designing grant-making processes that align with Indigenous governance traditions. They are reducing paperwork barriers that have historically excluded smaller, community-based organisations. They are building frameworks that honour collective decision-making rather than imposing Western institutional models. Some of these funds are already distributing grants to communities on the ground. Others are still developing their structures, but the momentum is undeniable and the direction is irreversible.

This is what self-determination looks like in the climate space. And it is long overdue.

Why This Matters to All of Us

This is not a story that only affects Indigenous communities. The health of our global climate depends on the health of the ecosystems that Indigenous peoples have stewarded for generations. When funding fails to reach the people protecting the Amazon, the Indonesian rainforest, or the forests of southern Mexico, we all lose. The biodiversity disappears. The carbon is released. The climate targets slip further out of reach.

Getting climate finance right, directing it to the right people with the right level of respect and autonomy, is not a charitable act. It is a strategic and moral necessity. Indigenous communities are not beneficiaries waiting for handouts. They are leaders, knowledge holders, and protectors whose work underpins global climate solutions.

The Broader Rethink That Is Already Underway

What is happening right now in climate finance circles is bigger than a handful of new funds. It represents a fundamental rethinking of the relationship between donors and Indigenous communities, a shift from charity to partnership, from control to trust, from top-down decision-making to genuine community leadership.

For non-profits working in this space, this moment is both a challenge and an invitation. A challenge to honestly examine whether our own structures, partnerships, and funding relationships reflect the values of equity and sovereignty we claim to uphold. And an invitation to show up differently as allies who amplify, resource, and step back when necessary.

The Indigenous communities building these new funds are not asking for sympathy. They are asking for structural change. And the most powerful thing supporters, donors, and partner organisations can do is listen, learn, and act accordingly.

A Final Thought

Climate justice and Indigenous sovereignty are not parallel conversations they are the same conversation. When we ask who should control the money meant to protect our planet, we are really asking a deeper question: Who do we trust? Whose knowledge do we value? And whose leadership are we finally ready to follow?

The Indigenous-led funds emerging around the world are not just filling a financial gap. They are modelling a better way forward, one rooted in respect, reciprocity, and the understanding that the communities closest to the land are best positioned to protect it.

The question is no longer whether this shift needs to happen. It is whether the rest of us are ready to support it.

Ready to Explore How Your Organisation Can Better Support Indigenous-Led Climate Action?

We would love to talk with you about how to align your funding, partnerships, or advocacy work with the principles of Indigenous sovereignty and community-led climate solutions. Reply to this post or reach out directly to book a call with our team. Together, we can help shape a more just and effective approach to climate and conservation work, one that starts by trusting the people who have been protecting this planet all along.

ABOUT ININ RABI

Inin Rabi is an indigenous and women-run non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the Shipibo Konibo community, an Indigenous group from the Peruvian Amazon. The organization focuses on co-creating opportunities that foster a better future for this community, emphasizing the empowerment of women and children.

[Donate] [Learn More]