A/HRC/54/31 58. Those targets present an opportunity for increased funding of Indigenous-led conservation projects and direct financing to Indigenous Peoples. However, that requires a complex understanding of how biodiversity offsets and credits work in practice and how to access and leverage the market. There is concern that Governments will be overly dependent on private financing and may fall short of meeting their biodiversity targets. Financial resources must target the right beneficiaries to empower Indigenous Peoples and effect transformative change.76 59. For example, Canada is using the project finance for permanence funding model to support Indigenous-led conservation projects, bringing together Indigenous organizations, Governments and the philanthropic community to identify shared goals for protecting nature and realizing long-term community benefits. Impact and benefit agreements, formal contracts between Indigenous Peoples and private industry outlining the obligations of each party throughout the business relationship are a further vehicle for delivering funding to Indigenous Peoples for conservation governance and stewardship, provided they are based on a framework of free, prior and informed consent.77 Mexico has created an Advisory Council to promote the participation of Indigenous Peoples in the conservation of protected areas.78 D. Emerging digital and technology issues 60. The Special Rapporteur was made aware of private projects involving emerging technologies for conservation activities and sustainable investments. These projects collect, digitalize and archive information concerning Indigenous Peoples and their territories (satellite images, audio and video documentaries) without any protection for the rights of Indigenous Peoples over their intellectual property or data sovereignty. The information is converted into digital tokens (digital security assets), and traded as a financial product on blockchain or other ledger technology. 61. New technology companies conclude contracts with Indigenous Peoples without any good faith consultation or proper explanation of the implications of such contracts. Based on such contracts, companies may acquire full ownership of information from Indigenous territories, allowing them to sell geological data to mining or oil companies, or to those who buy and sell environmental services for the carbon market. The Indigenous territory may be subject to monitoring and surveillance so that buyers of digital assets can “observe” the territory via satellite. Under the guise of addressing climate change and biodiversity loss, companies involved in the collection and monetization of environmental data and the creation of digital assets may be violating the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Financial stakeholders seeking to buy environmental services (such as forests, biodiversity and soil) to offset carbon on the digital market are likely to contribute to a transfer of ownership of Indigenous land value without the consent or maybe even the knowledge of the Indigenous Peoples concerned. V. Direct access to funding for Indigenous Peoples 62. Following the $1.7 billion pledge made by bilateral donors and philanthropic funders at the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the finding that international funding does not effectively reach Indigenous Peoples and their own projects,79 studies emerged to provide donors and investors 76 77 78 79 GE.23-13366 Helen Tugendhat and Maurizio Farhan Ferrari, “Unpacking the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Agreement: identifying key advances and making them work”, Forest Peoples Programme, 20 March 2023. See submission by Canada; and https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/indigenous-funding-model-is-awin-win-for-ecosystems-and-local-economies-in-canada/. See submission by Mexico. Rainforest Foundation Norway, “Falling short: donor funding for Indigenous Peoples and local communities to secure tenure rights and manage forests in tropical countries (2011–2020)”, p. 4; and Charapa Consult, Directing Funds to Rights. Principles, Standards and Modalities for Supporting Indigenous Peoples’ Tenure Rights and Forest Guardianship. 15