Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much the UK will contribute towards the joint fund to support indigenous peoples as part of the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Pledge made at COP26; how much and what proportion of the UK’s pledged contribution has been allocated as of 10 October 2022; and how much and what proportion of the UK's contribution will go directly to indigenous peoples.

The UK pledged $224 million towards the COP26 Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Forest Tenure Rights Pledge. The total $1.7 billion pledged by the 22 participating public and private donors is not being paid into a joint fund. Each donor decides how their contribution is spent in accordance with the commitments made in the pledge statement. The UK Government's contribution to the pledge is fully allocated against three programmes, the Global Land Governance Programme, the Territorios Forestales Sostenibles (TEFOS) programme in Colombia, and the current and planned next phase of the Forest, Governance and Markets Programme. So far, around 33% of the funds under each of these programmes have been committed via a contract or grant agreement. The UK Government is committed to increasing its direct support to indigenous peoples and local communities in line with the ambition of the pledge, but we are not yet able to say how much or what proportion will go directly to indigenous peoples. This will depend on specific funding agreements under each programme.