REDD+ projects: a source of resources to promote plans of ethnic territorial

Bogotá, August 31, 2020. The REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) have become an instrument referring to promote the sustainable development of strategic regions, through the conservation of forests; contributing to the goals at the country level for the reduction of emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHGS) and fighting poverty and inequality in the regions.  

REDD+ Projects are very relevant since the creation of the Carbon Tax, by Law 1819 of 2016, and its subsequent regulation by the decree-926 of 2017, also within the creation of the RENARE, which is given with the issuance of the Resolution 1447, 2018 by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MADS). 

The conjunction of these standards allows the creation of a new and promising colombian market for carbon, which is pivoted from the neutralization of the GHG emissions by the taxable person within the tax, those who receive tax benefits for the purchase of certified emission reductions, between both is transferred direct and indirect benefits to communities as custodians of strategic ecosystems, which generate a high impact on this sector for their economic activities; to not causation of the carbon tax.

Among the main objectives of these projects is to reduce deforestation (which went to 158.894 hectares in Colombia in 2019, according to figures from the IDEAM), to know and to counter forest degradation, and mitigate various environmental and economic impacts caused by climate change, through the capture and sequestration of forest carbon. 

In addition, such projects within the regulatory framework colombian should be adjusted to the different instruments of territorial planning in collective territories and the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS), to such an extent that is still being developed new standards to certify these projects based on the SDGS.  

“With the structuring of REDD+ projects, we seek to strengthen governance in the territories and to solve the basic needs of the guards indigenous and ethnic communities. Today we have 3 of our projects are in the stage of implementation that have led to positive results and have been evident in the communities,” says Ana Milena Plata, Executive Director of BIOFIX.