Cadasta Foundation received £3M from the United Kingdom Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to implement the Land for Climate initiative to enable systems change to document and secure indigenous and community land and resource rights. This grant will allow Cadasta to continue our work promoting effective mechanisms to secure land and resource rights and improve land governance systems for 500,000 people living on 1.5 million hectares of land, working directly with Indigenous Peoples and local communities. 

Cadasta’s Land for Climate initiative will help deliver the United Kingdom’s COP26 climate commitments to support Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ tenure rights as a critical strategy to combat climate change. Land for Climate will use community-led, action-oriented approaches to reach and strengthen land tenure in priority regions. 

With critical financial support from the United Kingdom since 2015, Cadasta has strengthened the land and resource rights of over six million people in 3,600 communities across 45 countries and 21 million hectares of land. These achievements are foundational to combating deforestation and reducing carbon emissions and the negative impacts of climate change with direct leadership and engagement of front-line communities. 

Commenting on the grant, Cadasta CEO Amy Coughenour said, “We are grateful for this significant FCDO investment that will allow our organization to directly support Indigenous Peoples and local communities with the funding, technology, and training they need to map, document and secure tenure rights to their land and resources.” 

Cadasta appreciates the opportunity to continue our work with FCDO to reach more Indigenous Peoples and local community organizations as they lead their own efforts to secure tenure and combat climate change while creating more prosperous and sustainable communities.