Climate Commons Fund - Laikipia, Kenya
The Climate Commons Fund project aims to reward and catalyse existing conservation practices in Il Ngwesi Conservancy in Laikipia County, Kenya, accelerating livelihood diversification through the removal of financial barriers and creating incentives for climate action through the establishment of a community-owned endowment fund.
In doing so, it offers a replicable, sustainable model to fund Cash for Conservation and deliver climate finance directly to people and communities.
An innovative solution to finance Cash for Conservation
How it works
This pilot project will focus on Il Ngwesi Community Conservancy, a community-managed rangeland in Laikipia. It will have two distinct, interrelated components:
1. All adult members of Il Ngwesi will receive a lump sum cash transfer. The payment will be designed to support existing community conservation goals, aid climate adaptation and catalyse livelihood diversification. Payments will be stewarded through community workshops and support services.
2. A fund will be established and invested in an ethical portfolio, generating returns that will be used to pay a universal, unconditional ‘Conservation Dividend’ to every adult in Il Ngwesi, sustainably financing payments beyond the initial lump sum transfer. Dividends will be indexed to ecological indicators within the conservancy, creating a positive incentive for conservation.
This project addresses the pressing need for innovative conservation and nature finance models rooted in justice and local ownership. By positioning communities as central stewards and beneficiaries of conservation, it offers a replicable mechanism to scale across Laikipia’s 20+ conservancies and other ecologically vulnerable regions worldwide.
Learn about how the fund works and our Theory of Change in the graphics below, or read our full concept note.
Find out more
-
Consultation process
We’ve spent the last 6 months engaging and co-designing this project with over 1,100 residents of Il Ngwesi. The community share their thoughts in the blog post below.
-
The RAIN Challenge
This project has been possible thanks to support from the Global Resilience Partnership’s RAIN Challenge, a fund aiming to support early-stage agricultural innovations across Africa.
-
Cash for Conservation
Cash for Conservation is a global movement to build the case for direct, unconditional cash transfers to support frontline communities globally. Find out more about C4C below.