Locally led finance for nature: estimating finance flows to local actors for conserving and restoring nature

Nature finance is essential to halt and reverse biodiversity loss – one of the most urgent crises affecting our planet.

There is compelling evidence that nature is best conserved when it is managed by Indigenous Peoples and local communities, including local actors such as smallholder farmers, fishers and pastoralists.

Local actors must therefore have leadership over how projects are implemented and funds are spent in their territories. However, evidence on how much nature finance is reaching the local level or is locally led is lacking.

This report uses a keyword search methodology to explore trends in international nature finance flows and estimate how much is implemented with local actors, and how much is locally led. We also estimate how much of this finance is reaching Indigenous Peoples and is Indigenous led.