Mesoamerican Territorial Fund
The FTM is aimed at promoting inclusive economic growth and improving the commercial insertion of small businesses in international markets. It also seeks to improve the business climate and competitiveness of productive activities based on the sustainable management of natural resources in the main forested regions of Mesoamerica.
In Mesoamerica, the communities have achieved that in more than 60% of the forests of the region their territorial rights have been recognized, a greater proportion than in any other area of the world. This has enabled our communities to form strong local organizations, community forestry enterprises, local eco-tourism initiatives, as well as develop experiences with numerous direct financing mechanisms, each of which has been associated with a number of documented achievements in management and sustainable forest conservation.
– Gustavo Sánchez, Red MOCAF
Financial mechanism
The Mesoamerican Territorial Fund focuses on the rapid deployment of direct financing linked to performance in territorial (sub-national) forestry and agroforestry landscapes, to achieve significant progress in the face of climate change, conservation and large-scale development.
The implementation of the territorial rights of indigenous peoples and local communities is at the center of this strategy. The FTM also seeks to develop coalitions with other key stakeholders that influence land use, including local and national government agencies, agribusiness, farmers, community organizations, NGOs, worker and business associations, conservation organizations, among others.
Characteristics:
Rights-based: The mechanism works from the recognition and implementation of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities over forests and territories, as well as respect for free, prior and informed consent.
Based on territorial alliances: Experience has shown that in order to achieve results at scale, the broad set of actors that influence the use of land and resources must participate. This initiative will be strategically oriented in those territories where the actors are willing to participate in processes of dialogue and negotiation on key environmental and development objectives.
Accessible financing linked to achievement of indicators: Financing linked to ecological, social and livelihood indicators. The social and livelihood indicators are developed according to the particular contexts of each territory, while the ecological indicators will be designed in a more uniform way to assess the health of the ecosystems. Special emphasis will be placed on the design of performance mechanisms simple enough to allow immediate actions, which can be nested in, or adjusted to, more sophisticated mechanisms eligible for financing, through carbon markets or through the climate regime of the UNFCCC.
Open for public bidding: Although most of the Mesoamerican forest territories are represented in the AMPB, the FTM is not exclusive to its members. Consequently, it will be open to receive applications from any territory in the Mesoamerican region.
