In the DRC, 50 million people, comprising about 400 ethnic groups, out of a total population of 84 million, depend on rainforests for their livelihoods. While the State exercises permanent sovereignty over all forests, the national territory is also covered extensively by customary rights. Unclear and overlapping user-rights create confusion and conflict, and hinder IPLCs in accessing and using their resources for sustainable rural development.

DRC forests are a critical pillar of the region’s climate strategy, are essential in ensuring the resilience of Indigenous and local forest-dependent communities. They also are a critical foundation for 30x30 implementation in the DRC. However, the country currently lacks the resources, analyses, and capacity to develop a national GCF project focused on integrated climate and biodiversity co- benefits.

The main goal of the proposed readiness project is to enable DRC and Indigenous Peoples to adopt an integrated approach to conserving biodiversity, mitigating and adapting to climate change and protecting 30% of the country’s land and ocean by 2030. Specifically, the activities in this project will produce an Indigenous Peoples engagement and mainstreaming plan for 30x30.

The readiness project outcomes will inform the design of a technically sound national and regional strategy for 30x30 in DRC and the Congo Basin, including a financing mechanism to support implementation that is equitable and rights-based (.e.g., for the GCF and other donors).

This readiness project also addresses priorities identified in the Kinshasa Declaration of ECCAS /COMIFAC countries for the Congo Basin forests and their periphery (2021) and will contribute to the future development of a national concept note and costed national action plan for financing a nationally focused and regionally aligned 30x30 strategy that (a) addresses Indigenous Peoples’ challenges, (b) fully and effectively engages Indigenous Peoples in the design, development and implementation of GCF- and GEF-financed activities and (c) enables and promotes the role of community-managed lands as Nature-based Solutions. These results will also address identified needs to advance the Indigenous Peoples Policy adopted by the GCF in 2019 and aligns with the recent DRC parliamentary decision on a proposed new law to protect the rights of Indigenous People.