IUCN NL at COP17 in Yerevan: locally led conservation and trust-based finance

From 19 to 30 October 2026, the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP17) takes place in Yerevan, Armenia, under the theme ‘Taking action for nature’. IUCN NL travels to Yerevan with an essential question for the success of the Global Biodiversity Framework: how do we get funding to the people who protect nature every day? Together with our partners, we host and co-host six events. Find out what we will share and where to meet us.

Header photo: Armenia © akoppo from Getty Images via Canva

Why funding doesn’t reach the frontline

Grassroots groups, Indigenous Peoples’ organisations, community enterprises, and (women) environmental defenders are usually the first to act when a forest is cleared, a river is polluted or a species starts to disappear. They experience firsthand how the crises of biodiversity loss, water, climate change and livelihoods connect in their landscape. Long before and long after international politicians put these topics on the agenda. Yet for a long time, only a small share of funding has reached the organisations working in the world’s most biodiverse landscapes.

Often, the people who are closest to the fire are brought in at the end of a conservation plan instead of at the start. Funding arrives with short project timelines, fixed budget lines, and reporting demands that can cost a small organisation more time than the work itself. In some cases, it even buries an organisation. If we want lasting results in biodiversity-rich landscapes, this needs to change.
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) itself calls for the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, women included, in decisions about biodiversity (Target 22). Getting there requires locally-led conservation and trust-based funding.

25 years of trust-based funding in practice

Although the term trust-based funding is gaining traction over these last few years, for IUCN NL, trust-based funding is not a new trend. It is how we have worked for over 25 years.
Our starting point is simple: the people closest to nature are best placed to decide what it needs. Our role is to make sure resources reach them quickly, with flexibility and as few strings attached as possible. We stand by our partners when things get difficul
A few examples of current programs:

• Land Acquisition Fund (since 2001). Local organisations buy, own and manage threatened land with conservation value. So far, more than 120 local NGOs have secured over 60,000 hectares through 156 projects in 42 countries.
• Nature’s Heartbeat (2025 – 2031). Building on previous programs like the Green Livelihoods Alliance, we work together with Armonía (Bolivia), A Rocha Ghana, Ecotrust (Uganda) and NTFP-EP (Indonesia and the Philippines), where we support over 30 local organisations in seven highly biodiverse landscapes and receive three years of unearmarked funding. The programme is made possible by the Dutch Postcode Lottery. An expansion funded by a new private donor will broaden the network to twelve landscapes in seven countries, with nine consortium partners and around 50 grassroots community-based and civil-society organisations.
• Emergency support for frontline defenders. Between 2021 and 2025, IUCN NL €130.370 in emergency funds to 33 requests from environmental organisations through the Green Livelihoods Alliance.
• Green Lifeline Action Fund. Through a network of Trusted Nominators, this fund provides trust-based rapid response funding to conservationists and environmental defenders that are facing unexpected emergencies. These programmes show something we will repeat often during the COP: trust and accountability do not compete but instead, if practiced well, reinforce each other.

Overview of our COP17 events

Locally led protection of Key Biodiversity Areas: grassroots actors at the heart of the conservation movement

• Date & time: Monday 19 October, 13:15–14:45
• Location: Blue Zone, Spitak – Side-event Room 2 (official CBD side event)
• Organiser: IUCN NL, with the KBA Secretariat, Armonia, NTFP-EP, Arocha Ghana, Warsi, Strong Roots and Ecotrust
• Online: Livestream and remote interpretation available

Key Biodiversity Areas are often safeguarded by those who live in and around them: grassroots organisations, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, faith-based groups and community enterprises. Yet they are still rarely recognised as conservation actors in their own right, and face major barriers in access to finance, decision-making and land rights.

Speakers from six countries share how locally led conservation delivers results for both biodiversity and communities, and strengthens long-term stewardship of important landscapes. A key part of the discussion: trust-based, flexible and long-term funding models, drawing on experience from the Nature’s Heartbeat programme.

Join us to explore how equitable governance, direct financing and lasting institutional support can put local actors at the centre of global conservation.

From fragmentation to action: mobilising finance for locally led conservation

• Date & time: Tuesday 20 October, 14:15–15:15
• Location: Blue Zone, Dutch Pavilion
• Organisers: IUCN NL, Conservation Connect and A Rocha Ghana
• Format: Interactive workshop (limited to around 30 participants)

Indigenous Peoples and local communities are among the world’s most important stewards of biodiversity, yet their organisations remain severely underfunded and are rarely trusted to design conservation strategies. In this interactive workshop, funders, intermediaries and conservation practitioners work side by side to map the barriers to finance, including the constraints funders and intermediaries face themselves.

Using concrete examples of locally led and trust-based funding, we look for practical ways to make funding more accessible, flexible, long-term and effective. The expected outcome: a joint analysis of challenges, a clear call to action and practical recommendations for stronger collaboration across the funding ecosystem.

Building trust for biodiversity: reimagining funding relationships for higher conservation impact

• Date & time: Wednesday 21 October, 12:00–13:00
• Location: Blue Zone, FPWC Pavilion, Meridian Exhibition Center
• Organisers: Synchronicity Earth and IUCN NL
• Format: Interactive panel with audience dialogue

Trust is more than a value. It is a strategy for better conservation outcomes. As one women’s rights activist put it: “Trust is more empowering than money.”

In this session, donors, intermediaries and frontline conservation actors discuss what trust-based funding means to them, and how it can strengthen local leadership, shift power, lower barriers and help deliver the ambitions of the GBF.

Synchronicity Earth reflects on the evolution of trust-based philanthropy, while IUCN NL shares how we put trust into practice through the Land Acquisition Fund, Nature’s Heartbeat and Green Lifeline Action Fund. We explore the question: how can trust and accountability reinforce each other, rather than compete?

Generating impact: scaling Dutch international partnerships for Nature-based Solutions

• Date & time: Wednesday 21 October, 14:15–15:15
• Location: Blue Zone, Dutch Pavilion
• Organiser: IUCN NL, Partners for Water, Wetlands International, IUCN West Africa/WACA, and EcoBenin.

This session will focus on collaborations of the Dutch water sector to promote, implement and scale Nature-based solutions, with special reference to initiatives in West Africa and their potential for sustainable water management and biodiversity benefits.

Irene Dankelman Young Ecofeminist Award: celebrating grassroots women and feminist frontline defenders for biodiversity action

• Date & time: Wednesday 21 October, 16:15–17:45
• Location: Green Zone, Upper Stage, Karen Demirtchian Sport Complex
• Organisers: WECF (lead), IUCN NL, Both ENDS and WEDO

Launched at COP16 in 2024, the Irene Dankelman Young Ecofeminist Award celebrates young environmental leaders working where gender and environmental justice meet.

It honours the legacy of Irene Dankelman, a pioneer in connecting gender equality with climate and biodiversity, and who was a dedicated mentor to young activists.

At COP17, we celebrate three grassroots women leaders whose work protects biodiversity and strengthens their communities. The ceremony also brings grassroots feminists and high-level speakers together in a dialogue on why gender-just solutions are essential to tackle the triple planetary crisis.

Frontline conservation resilience: why trust-based rapid response funding is essential for delivering the Global Biodiversity Framework

• Date & time: Friday 23 October, 14:00–15:00
• Location: Blue Zone, IUCN Pavilion, Forum Room B (event no. 67)
• Organiser: IUCN NL, with rapid response funders including CEPF’s R2C2
• Online: Livestreamed via the IUCN Pavilion

Biodiversity goals can only be met if frontline actors get the support they need when a crisis hits. Hear which emergencies conservationists and environmental defenders face, from threats and legal intimidation to fires and disasters, and how rapid response funds help them overcome the unexpected and protect hard-won conservation gains.

Are you part of a frontline organisation? This session is your opportunity to speak directly with your peers and donors, to share what works and what doesn’t. Your input helps improve funding processes and criteria so they better match the reality on the ground, including our own way of working.

Meet us in Yerevan

Our team will be in Yerevan throughout the first week of COP17. Are you a funder, intermediary or frontline organisation looking for ways to make conservation funding more direct, flexible and effective? We’d love to talk. Get in touch to set up a meeting or find us at one of our sessions.

Can’t be there in person? Several sessions are livestreamed. Follow IUCN NL on LinkedIn for updates from Yerevan.