Forest Guardians Connect: Unlocking Private Financing to Indigenous Bioeconomy Solutions in Forest Territories is a UNDP-hosted, rights-based partnership platform that catalyzes global private finance directly to Indigenous-led forest conservation and bioeconomy solutions—unlocking the critical climate, biodiversity, and economic value of the world’s tropical forests. By bridging Indigenous Peoples and responsible private actors, the platform provides a trusted gateway to vetted local climate and biodiversity solutions; ensures compliance with Indigenous Peoples’ rights and ESG standards; and facilitates impactful partnerships that deliver measurable environmental results and sustainable livelihoods. Building on UNDP’s successful work delivering grants to territories, it connects companies, philanthropies, and Indigenous innovators in a cutting-edge ecosystem that advances the Paris Agreement while strengthening the world’s most effective forest stewards.
Download two-pager about the Platform here.
Interested to join? Click here
Here are examples of the potential of the platform:
UNDP and Lavazza partnership to certify and market first ever deforestation-free coffee from Ecuador, a pilot being scaled to other countries:
Our founding partners at Sacred Forests bridge brands with Indigenous territories and their seed funding helped support the design phase of the Platform. They have developed a model for rewarding “conservation as a service” in an effort to correct the “Trillion Dollar Blindspot of carbon logic.”
Sacred Forests’ key partner is Rituals, and their first joint pilot is working with the Arhuaco Indigenous communities in the Sierra Nevada: https://www.rituals.com/en-us/mag-the-arhuaco-sacred-forest-rituality.html
The Arhuaco partner organization, ASOARHUACO, won the UNDP Equator Prize in 2024 for their longstanding efforts securing livelihoods and protecting nature. Watch a short film about their work here: https://youtu.be/ORugXP8TEgU?si=B99dPBpuMOQjNnZ1
As a result of this successful pilot, Rituals has made a 10% profit pledge to continue supporting Indigenous forest guardians long-term: https://www.rituals.com/en-us/lp/profitpledge
Amazon Investor Coalition joined the platform as a founding funding partner. They met several grantees in meetings of the platform, such as Con Amazonia.
Our partners Rurban connect Indigenous artisans with fashion brands. We connected them with Hakhu Amazon, an Indigenous Kichwa designer and women artisan collective: https://vimeo.com/1121164982?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci
Fundación Hakhu won the UNDP Equator Prize in 2025: https://www.equatorinitiative.org/2025/07/31/fundacion-hakhu-amazonia/
Contact:
Nina Kantcheva | Global Advisor on Indigenous Peoples | UNDP
Email: nina.kantcheva@undp.org
Josep Garí | Head of Climate, Forests & Land | UNDP
E-mail: josep.gari@undp.org