Annual Report 2024

Director's message

A warm welcome to FPP’s refreshed Annual Report! The new structure spotlights a selection of impact stories organised according to our four strategic priority outcomes: Strong peoples and communities; Just, diverse and sustainable economies; Effective, accessible and just legal systems; Resilient networks and movements. 

A major accomplishment of 2024 was finalising our Strategic Framework Plan 2025-2030. The Plan is imbued with a thousand conversations on strategy held with community partners by cooking fires, on long dusty drives, or in the margins of global conferences. Among much else, the Plan articulates the added value of FPP’s solidarity-based allyship model. This role is particularly vital for least established organisations and more marginalised peoples, who face significant barriers to accessing support and funding. Our Forest Visions initiative for example is especially tailored to those groups. 

This Report marks 2024 by celebrating the Indigenous peoples and forest peoples at the frontline of solutions to address interconnected human rights, climate and biodiversity crises. Success needs a whole community approach, and a range of partner-led gender justice initiatives brought to the fore Indigenous peoples’ and forest peoples’ movements for collective rights, from women's exchanges, to food sovereignty initiatives, international advocacy, and more. 

“Conflicts do not arise because people demand their rights but because their rights are violated”. 

Requests for FPP’s legal support from those demanding their rights resulted in notable wins in 2024, but judgments or reformed laws do not always resolve conflicts and uphold rights alone, and require implementation to be effective. This requires a multi-faceted and longer-term strategy of constructive dialogue, changing narratives, community self-governance, and territorial care. The effectiveness of this multilayered strategy is exemplified by many of the impact stories in this Annual Report, including those from the Ogiek of Mt. Elgon in Kenya, the Bagyeli in Cameroon, the Kichwa in Peru, and the People of the Centre in Colombia. 

FPP also continues to support Indigenous peoples’ and forest peoples' voices at the forefront of global policy on climate, biodiversity, and business and human rights. Securing agreement on a new indicator integrating land tenure into the monitoring framework of the Global Biodiversity Framework was an important step forward in 2024. The Zero Tolerance Initiative also made strides in committing companies to zero tolerance for attacks against human rights defenders via its new resource hub. 

Looking ahead, the impact of energy, minerals, and nature markets on indigenous peoples and forest peoples will continue to increase, requiring further investment in standard-setting and accountability. A key imperative will be for alternative climate and nature finance models that can deliver the support needed by Indigenous peoples and forest peoples to protect their forests from threats such as illegal mining and logging. As the Wampis Nation are demonstrating, territorial defence is a core priority for Indigenous peoples and forest peoples – their survival depends on it; yet the scale and nature of the threats such groups face will require sustainable and flexible sources of funding and allyship to ensure they can succeed and flourish. 

Tom Lomax

Read the Annual Report