Leaders from Wampis Nation, first Indigenous people to declare autonomy in Peru, to visit UK during London Climate Week

The Wampis leaders are visiting the UK to spread the word about their autonomy, self-governance and politics of Tarimat Pujut (to live well in harmony with nature), as well as the strategies and socio-economic initiatives they are developing to guarantee the existence and continuity of nature, the rights of the Wampis Nation and its culture. 

They will participate in several events in London, during London Climate Week, where the leaders will share their demands to the UK government on corporate accountability, direct funding and collective rights recognition. 

The leaders will also travel to Scotland. The tour will include exchanges with the community on the Isle of Eigg about seeking autonomy and self-determination, and with the community of Torry, Aberdeen, on strategies for resisting dispossession.

Joint Online Event with The Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampís Nation, Royal Anthropological Institute and Forest Peoples Programme

Public discussions of climate finance in the UK continue to be dominated by promotion of carbon markets. This remains the case despite their well-documented failure to perform to date, and the growing evidence of the risks they pose to human rights. At the same time, alternative ways of generating climate finance – such as removing subsidies for harmful activities, increasing tax revenues, addressing inequality, domestically and globally – are underutilised even though many studies suggest that they can be more effective – and more cost effective – than “market” mechanisms. 

In addition to these broader economic levers, direct funding to Indigenous peoples and to local communities is emerging as a credible and cost-effective approach to addressing the climate and nature crises, while also addressing human rights and social justice. Yet it remains the case that only a tiny percentage of climate funding goes to Indigenous peoples and to local communities.

This event aims to explore more just and effective forms of climate finance, including through looking at alternative sources of finance in developed economies and ways that such funds can best be directed to Indigenous peoples and local communities. At this time of seismic shifts in the global governance and economic architecture, this is a timely conversation that seeks to delve into various options, and propose a different, more just and more effective blueprint for climate finance, in the UK and beyond.

Just alternatives for climate finance

Exploring rights-based and non-market mechanisms, including direct funding of Indigenous peoples as well as local communities

• Monday 23rd June 2025, 3.30 – 5.30pm BST
• English-Spanish
• Register for the online event here