Flow Funding on the Frontlines of Climate Justice, by Farhana Yamin

“In times of intersecting crises, philanthropy must move beyond caution and control, and place trust directly in the hands of those imagining and building just futures.”

— Farhana Yamin, Climate Lawyer, Activist, Be The Earth Flow Funder (Wisdom Keeper cohort 2024-26)

We are living through a period of profound global instability. Geopolitical conflict, ecological breakdown, genocide, and deepening political polarisation are intersecting in ways that disproportionately affect those already facing systemic injustice. In this context, philanthropy has a responsibility not merely to respond, but to step up.

This moment calls for unconditional support for those working at the frontlines of intersecting struggles — individuals and communities imagining and building a kinder, greener future grounded in human rights and the rights of the more-than-human world.

Traditional philanthropic models, with their rigid structures and risk-averse practices, are often ill-suited to this task. What is needed instead is trust, flexibility, and proximity.

Why Flow Funding Matters

Flow Funding offers a philanthropic approach that is kind, flexible, and empowering. It is rooted in the principle that those closest to the challenges are best placed to decide how resources should be used. By providing direct access to funding, flow funding supports autonomy, dignity, and self-determination.

Grounded in relationships and trust, flow funding democratises the distribution of wealth, cuts through unnecessary bureaucracy, and ensures that funds reach people, projects, and places often overlooked by traditional philanthropy. At the hyper-local level, even a modest grant can generate significant impact, creating ripple effects that strengthen wellbeing, resilience, and collective action across entire communities.

Supporting Indigenous Leadership at COP30

In 2025, my flow funding focused on supporting movement-building and Indigenous participation at the UN climate summit, COP30, held in Belém, Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon.

Hosting COP30 in the Amazon carried deep political and symbolic significance, centring the realities of Indigenous peoples whose lands, cultures, and livelihoods are on the frontlines of climate breakdown and environmental violence. Support was directed to the People’s Climate Alliance, an Indigenous-led coalition driven by women and young people from the Amazon. The Alliance advanced a powerful campaign demanding climate justice and reparations for harm, grounded in lived experience and intergenerational knowledge.

Ceremony, Wisdom and the Sacred

Flow funding also supported ceremonies led by Earth Elders and Wisdom Keepers from the Amazon, the Americas, and Africa.

These ceremonies created space for prayer, grounding, and remembrance, reminding COP30 participants of the ancestral wisdom of Indigenous peoples whose knowledge systems and stewardship are essential to maintaining the web of life.

The ceremonies honoured the sacred elements and our profound interconnection. They offered ritual cleansing of COP spaces and invited participants to ask permission of the spirit beings of the Amazon region, opening pathways forward based on respect for nature, reciprocity, and reverence for our Earth Mother.

Reflections

This experience reaffirmed that small, flexible grants can have outsized impact when directed by those on the frontlines, and that Indigenous-led movements generate powerful leadership when adequately supported.

In times of cascading crises, philanthropy must move beyond caution toward trust, courage, and relational accountability. Flow funding offers one pathway for doing so — by placing resources directly in the hands of those imagining and enacting just futures.

By Farhana Yamin

Be The Earth Flow Funder (Wisdom Keeper cohort 2024-26)

Lawyer, Activist & Author

Richard von Weizsacker Fellow

Honorary Fellow, Somerville College, Oxford

Director, Climate Justice & Just Transition Collaborative

Director, Impatience Ltd