Path to Scale 2022 Meeting Summary

The Rights and Resources Initiative and the Tenure Facility, in collaboration with the Forest Tenure Funders Group, hosted a meeting on December 5, 2022, to discuss the status of, and new opportunities for, financing rights-based climate and conservation solutions. The meeting preceded the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference (CoP 15). The purpose of the meeting was to advance collective progress against the Path to Scale targets and to support implementation of the historic IPLC Forest Tenure Pledge committed at CoP26 to secure, strengthen, and defend Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ rights to their lands and forests.

Participation consisted of 46 leaders (in person and online) from the public and private donor community, rightsholder networks and funds, and NGOs who have been working—together and separately—to ensure that more resources reach Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendant Peoples (IPs, LCs, and ADPs) to manage and conserve rural landscapes, tropical forests, and biodiversity. To achieve the ambitions of the Pledge and Path to Scale targets, participants discussed the critical next steps to increase collaboration among diverse stakeholders, channel more funding directly to IPs, LCs, and ADPs, and catalyze greater investments to meet the scale of the challenge. The meeting consisted of a dialogue in the morning to assess the state of play in 2022 and 2023, and an operational session in the afternoon to set the agenda for the Path to Scale Network in 2023.

2023 Path to Scale Workplan

1. Funding Mobilization: Develop a strategy to engage other pledges and new donors to mobilize funding to reach the $10 billion goal by 2030. This includes engaging donors and funds supporting the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), as well as country-specific networks. Another focus is to look beyond grant funding and explore alternative forms of investment with the private sector, philanthropy, etc.
2. Analytical Work: Develop a report aimed at influencing high-level decision makers to change administrative systems and/or unlock more funding to directly support IP, LC, and ADP tenure rights; to be launched by the end of 2024. Additionally, the Path to Scale will map Network workplans with 2023 priorities to highlight areas for coordination and collaboration among participants.
3. 2023 Convenings: Identify global and regional forums that would be geographically or politically strategic to reconvene to engage important decision makers and recruit more allies to the movement. Participants generally agreed that New York Climate Week represented an ideal opportunity.
4. Grow and Systematize Path to Scale Platform: Expand participation in the Path to Scale, prioritizing the participation of leaders from key NGOs and intermediaries, rightsholder-led funds, and rightsholder networks. Formalize the structure and working arrangements of the network, establishing quarterly meetings to provide participants with regular opportunities to collaborate in intentional, co-owned spaces. Also, meetings may be organized on an ad hoc basis.