Ford Foundation Commits $85-Million to Improve Environment While Aiding Rural Economies Around the World

The Ford Foundation today announced it would commit $85-million in grants to ensure that rural and indigenous people around the world are not ignored in efforts to combat climate change.

The money, which will be spent over five years, advances a fresh approach to managing forests and other vast tracts of land, based on a recognition that such areas are home to hundreds of millions of people who often do not have a voice in how the lands are preserved.

Strengthening rural people’s role in combating climate change also has the benefit of helping them rise out of poverty, Ford officials said.

“We believe that incorporating the voices of the people who live on these lands will bring three positive outcomes: strengthening communities and boosting local economic activity while advancing the health and sustainability of the environment,” Luis Ubiñas, Ford’s president, said in a statement. “There is the potential for triple-bottom-line impact from this approach.”

Money will be spent in six regions where the New York foundation has offices: Brazil, Central America and Mexico, China, eastern Africa, India, and Indonesia.

The grants will support a variety of organizations and techniques.

They will go toward developing the advocacy skills of rural leaders, identifying effective approaches local towns and villages use to manage their own natural resources, and encouraging governments to invest more money in rural areas.

Ford will also make grants to ensure that existing climate-change efforts recognize the needs of poor people who live in rural areas and to strengthen those organizations and networks that already embrace this approach.