Protection of the Matavén forest in eastern Colombia

Colombia, a megadiverse nation, is home to approximately 10% of the world’s flora and fauna, with over 40,000 plant species thriving in its rich ecosystems. The Matavén Jungle is an area of great importance for bird conservation at the national and global level, because it meets many of the requirements that have been identified to designate these areas: species distribution are restricted to biogeographic regions (6%), areas of endemism (1%), and specialist species habitat use (25%) and highly sensitive to human disturbance (26%) species.

In the Vichada department, located in the Orinoco River basin, deforestation has posed a significant challenge, with around 500,000 hectares of forest lost between 1990 and 2005. The Matavén REDD+ project addresses these environmental and social issues by safeguarding the tropical forest within the Indigenous Reservation of the Matavén Forest, covering 1,150,212 hectares.

Before the REDD+ Matavén Project, the Indigenous communities of Matavén faced significant challenges. Despite being exceptional guardians of their forests, they lacked access to essential resources like education, healthcare, and markets. With few alternatives, mining, livestock expansion, and illegal activities became some of the only viable income sources, leading to deforestation and threatening their lands, culture, and livelihoods.