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Women in Global South Alliance (November 12, 2025)—The Women in Global South Alliance (WiGSA) extends its congratulations to governments and donors for their renewed commitment to supporting the tenure rights of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities, as announced at COP30 in Brazil on November 6, 2025.
The renewed Forest and Land Tenure Pledge for $1.8 billion in funding through 2030; the Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment co-led by Brazil, Norway and Peru, aiming at securing recognition of 160 million hectares of community lands; and the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), with its 20% requirement for direct funding for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, are paving the way to make justice for the women, men, youth, and elders of the communities who have been at the forefront of protecting, managing, and restoring the world’s forest, lands, waters, and biodiversity.
In this historic moment, we recall the significant contributions of Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community women to territorial governance, food security and sovereignty, forest management, forest and land restoration, and the environmental, economic, and social well-being of their communities. Recognizing gender equality and securing these women’s community-based land and resource tenure rights is imperative to ensure the impactful implementation of this new commitment.
Central to the goal of securing recognition of 160 million hectares of community lands, addressing the challenges of the climate and biodiversity crises, and delivering direct funding to communities, is the leadership and wisdom of women.
In an era of growing resistance to upholding the historical gains in women’s rights and gender equality, and global decline in funding for gender equality and women’s rights, WiGSA, as a cross-continental solidarity network of Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community women’s organizations from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, calls for the recognition of women as equal rightsholders in climate and conservation finance, with direct access to funding.
In our recent study, Is Global Funding Reaching Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and Local Community Women? WiGSA provided evidence of the limited funding reaching grassroots women’s organizations working at the intersection of women’s tenure rights and environmental justice. Women’s organizations rely heavily on volunteer labor, compounding existing inequalities of unpaid work, and Afro-descendant women’s organizations experience even more barriers to accessing direct funding.
The major source of funding for WiGSA organizations comes from international NGOs, followed by private philanthropy, with UN agencies and national governments playing a relatively minor role.
If the renewed Forest and Land Tenure Pledge goals are to bridge the historical gap in direct funding to Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities, donors and governments must ensure that the global gender funding gap is specifically addressed in its implementation. This means ensuring that the Pledge incorporates a gender-responsive perspective, preventing women-led organizations from being left behind.
To ensure these commitments bridge historical gaps and deliver transformative change, WiGSA recommends the following:
- Address the global gender funding gap by integrating gender-responsive safeguards and indicators in the implementation of the new Pledge.
- Guarantee direct, flexible funding for women-led organizations to strengthen territorial governance and climate resilience.
- Ensure women’s representation in decision-making bodies overseeing land tenure and climate finance.
- Incorporate intersectional funding approaches that recognize and address the diverse realities and needs of women in Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local communities.
- Establish robust accountability and monitoring frameworks, including gender-disaggregated data, to track progress on equity and inclusion.
WiGSA stands ready to collaborate with governments, donors, and communities to ensure that these commitments deliver justice and lasting impact.
