Forest protection in Colombia. More than a million hectares, guarded by the Indigenous people who live there.

Why Matavén

Colombia is one of the richest countries on Earth for wildlife. Ecologi’s page says it is home to about 10% of the world’s plants and animals, including more than 40,000 kinds of plant. The Matavén forest matters a great deal for birds in particular.

The forest is in the Vichada department, in the basin of the Orinoco River. Forest loss has been a serious problem there. Ecologi says around 500,000 hectares went between 1990 and 2005.

The Indigenous communities of Matavén have long looked after their forest. But before the project they had little access to schools, health care or markets. Mining, cattle and illegal activities were among the few ways to earn money, and all of them meant clearing trees.

How the project cuts emissions

Trees hold carbon. When a forest is cleared or damaged, that carbon goes into the air as greenhouse gas. This project plants nothing new. It cuts emissions by keeping a very large forest standing.

Ecologi says the project prevents 1,800,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year by avoiding forest loss and damage to the land, and that more than 27 million verified carbon units have been issued for it. Ecologi does not date either figure.

It works by removing the reasons to clear the forest. People are offered other ways to earn a living, local rangers are employed, and the communities are involved in the conservation work themselves.

Who does the work

The forest is an Indigenous reservation, and its highest authority is the reserve’s own board. Ecologi’s page does not name an outside company as the developer, so we will not guess. It refers to the work as the REDD+ Matavén Project.

The page describes support for six Indigenous ethnic groups across 350 communities, and for 336 Indigenous Guards. An Indigenous cooperative set up under the project, COOMATAVÉN, brings goods made in the communities to market, such as cacao and traditional crafts. A higher education fund helps young people from the reservation go to university.

Ecologi gives two different totals for the people who benefit: nearly 16,000 in one place and 22,486 in another. It does not explain the difference or date either one, so we simply report both.

The project on record

Ecologi lists this project as live and has funded it since 2020. The entries below come from the timeline on its page. Most of them describe events, not carbon totals.

1. January 2013The project start date given by Ecologi.
2. January 2019Under the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards, ICONTEC verifies the project’s results for 2018 and 2019 and awards it a Gold distinction for climate change adaptation.
3. October 2025The 2025 Captains’ Workshops are held across the five zones of Matavén, with 341 Indigenous leaders taking part.
4. October 2025Ecologi reports that the project took part in a three-day summit on sustainability in Bogotá in September 2025.
5. April 2026The cooperative COOMATAVÉN shows cacao products, mañoco and traditional crafts at two events in the department of Guainía.
6. May 2026Ecologi reports that a woman has been elected to the reserve’s board for the first time since it was created. The election took place in December 2025.
7. July 2026A young woman from the community of Galilea graduates as a lawyer, supported by the project’s higher education fund.

341Indigenous leaders took part in the 2025 Captains’ Workshops, reported in October 2025. This is the most recent counted figure in the project’s timeline.

What the forest holds

Ecologi’s page lists what the protected area contains. These figures are not dated.

• Forest. 1,150,212 hectares of natural forest.
• Wildlife. Conservation work covering 249 kinds of bird, 198 kinds of butterfly and 121 kinds of plant.
• Water. More than 800 rivers and streams.

How the project is checked

We do not choose or run the projects ourselves. They are selected by Ecologi, and this one carries its “Carbon Project Ecologi Approved” mark.

It is also checked from outside. Ecologi lists it under the Verified Carbon Standard and links to its entry on the Verra registry, where it is project 1566. It is also listed under the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard, where it holds a Gold distinction.

What Printlogik has funded here

Ecologi keeps a public record of the projects each of its members has helped to fund. That record names this project among those Printlogik’s contributions have gone to, through the Print A Tree Project. Ecologi does not publish a figure for us project by project, so we cannot tell you how much of the work here was paid for by our orders, and we will not guess. Our total across all the carbon projects we have supported is shown on the Print A Tree page.

Ecologi lists this project as live, but its page says it is not available for new funding at present. Every order we print still makes a contribution through Ecologi, and it goes to the projects Ecologi is funding today.

How your order gets here

1. You order printAny order, of any size. There is nothing to tick and nothing extra to pay.
2. We make a contributionEach invoice triggers a contribution from Printlogik to Ecologi.
3. Emissions are cutEcologi funds projects like this one, and records what we have funded in public.

The UN global goals it supports

The United Nations has set 17 Sustainable Development Goals for a fairer, healthier planet by 2030. Ecologi records this project as supporting 7 of them.

• 3Good health and well-being
• 4Quality education
• 6Clean water and sanitation
• 8Decent work and economic growth
• 9Industry, innovation and infrastructure
• 13Climate action
• 15Life on land

Where it is

Vichada, Colombia · 4.1°N, 68.5°W

Location	Vichada, Colombia
Type of project	Forest protection
Status	Live. Ecologi has funded it since 2020, but it is not open for new funding at present
Full record	See it on Ecologi