The world’s biggest funder of climate projects has conducted an internal investigation into complaints that mismanagement of a major initiative it approved for Nicaragua could spur the ongoing, violent displacement of Indigenous people from their lands. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has not disclosed its findings, but the probe was discussed at the March meeting of the organization’s board, Corina Lehmann, an Argentine foreign ministry official and GCF board member, confirmed to EcoAméricas on March 22. The investigation concerns a US$116 million project approved by the GCF in November 2020 to enable reforestation and sustainable woodland management in two Unesco-recognized biosphere reserves—Bosawás and Río San Juan, both on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast. The funds have yet to be disbursed, but Indigenous communities say the expectation of project incentives is already helping to fuel a continuing influx of non-Indigenous settlers into their territories—a trend, they say, the... [Log in to read more]