STEWARDSHIP FUND

Market-based approaches often bypass community agency. Carbon and PES markets promise income but deliver externallydetermined

metrics, lock communities into compliance frameworks,

and ultimately subordinate stewardship decisions to market signals not community priorities. The Stewardship Fund model is designed to be direct, flexible and trust-based-channelling of long-term, non-prescriptive finance

that strengthens rather than supplants community agency. It treats stewardship as a public good deserving dedicated funding, not a commodity to be traded. Current status: CLANS is pursuing blended finance opportunities for operationalizatising the fund across the north east

Objectives

The fund aims to strengthen community-led stewardship by supporting conservation, sustainable livelihoods and food sovereignty, while reinforcing cultural identity and customary governance, with a strong focus on inclusive participation of women and youth

Problem Statement

Despite their central role in conserving biodiversity and managing forest landscapes, IPLCs face systemic barriers:

Chronic underfunding:

Less than 3% of global climate and biodiversity finance reaches IPLCs directly.

Marginalisation of governance systems:

Customary institutions are often bypassed by state-led or market-driven interventions.

Top-down conservation models

This is the space to introduce the business and what it has to offer. Define the qualities and values that make it unique.

Weak institutional capacity:

Plantation-based and carbon-centric approaches

frequently undermine biodiversity and local livelihoods.

Social and structural risks:

Many communities lack access to finance, technical support,

and governance strengthening mechanisms

Strategic Response
The Stewardship Fund addresses these structural gaps through three core shifts:

Communities are repositioned as primary agents of governance, not implementers of externally designed programs.

From Beneficiaries to Decision-Makers

The focus moves beyond isolated interventions to strengthening enduring stewardship systems, including governance, livelihoods, and knowledge.

From Projects to Systems -

The fund prioritises climate resilience, ecosystem health, and community wellbeing, rather than narrow carbon outcomes.