Part One: The Peoples Forests Partnership's First Capacity Building Workshop
At Africa Climate Week, The Peoples Forest Partnership held its first regional capacity building workshop with Indigenous peoples in Nairobi, Kenya. This session was the first of several planned regional workshops and marked the beginning of the Partnership’s work to ensure Indigenous Peoples have the knowledge they need to effectively navigate the voluntary carbon market.
Group photo from the knowledge sharing workshop in Nairobi, Kenya
“We see the Peoples Forests Partnership as a door to the world for IPLCs to connect to new opportunities,” says Deborah Sanchez, Interim Executive Director of PFP and member of Alianza Mesoamericana de Pueblos y Bosques (AMPB), “It is a powerful way for us to tell the carbon markets what equity means to IPLCs, how to respect their rights and worldviews, and how to value traditional knowledge as much as they do western science.”
Topics at the workshop included how the price of a carbon credit is determined, what makes for a high-quality carbon project, and community rights when developing a project. Most importantly, the workshop served as a two-way knowledge sharing session, where anyone could openly discuss their experiences or questions they have relating to the carbon market. In total, over 50 people from 19 Indigenous groups from across the continent attended!
As a follow-up to this session, the Peoples Forests Partnership will be working on a glossary of VCM terms and written up case studies for all IPLCs to learn from.
Part Two: United Nations Panel
Deborah Sanchez speaking at a United Nations panel at Africa Climate Week
Deborah Sanchez, Interim Executive Director of PFP also spoke on the United Nations panel, “Inclusive Climate Adaptation Solutions: Shaping Action, Finance, and Policies for Youth,” alongside representatives from GAYO, African Development Bank and Wildlife Works.
“Ecosystems have already been impacted by climate change, so there is no way younger generations will not be impacted. Indigenous peoples are using our knowledge to protect forests and protect the world, so we must be part of the conversation, and we must have capacity building sessions so that IPLCs, and especially youth, can navigate this space."
Watch the full panel here: https://www.youtube.com/live/TeUE1dF7Lkk?si=8NOaoPVnPMeiEwtA