More than 100,000 tons of CO2 were stopped issuing thanks to Cocomasur preferred to conserve 13,000 hectares of forest. Project received international certification.

In three years, nearly 1,000 families of Cocomasur, Colombia, have avoided the emission of 100,000 tons of carbon into the atmosphere thanks to its decision to protect 13,000 hectares of forest that they own.

In 30 years will be 2.8 million tons avoided by the first REDD project that has received the seal VCS (Verified Carbon Standard), the most demanding of the voluntary carbon market, certificate acknowledging that deforestation has decreased in that ecosystem avoiding that the emission amount of carbon. It is the first global project to issue REDD bonds in a territory with collective title.

Contrary to what others decide, fell the forest, the Community Council of Black Communities of Tolo River Basin and South Waterfront (Cocomasur) decided to participate in the Conservation Corridor project Chocó-Darién.

With that ensures the conservation of the forest, the preservation of flora and fauna. With the obtaining of the VCS can generate financial resources for the community, said Mauricio Salazar, director of the project

“We’re talking to a range of buyers including a company of agriculture (coffee), an oil company, a mining company, a bank and an environmental magazine. The interesting thing is we have seen more interest in Colombia than we had imagined,” said Brodie Ferguson, American anthropologist, founder of Anthrotect, a company that joined with the community to develop the initiative.

From Cocomasur involves nine local community councils of Acandí, northern Chocó. With the money will be paid the investment and remain community resources to invest according to their ethnic development plan.

The work carried out between Anthrotect and Cocomasur supported by the Fund for Environmental Action and Children, has strengthened the community, preserve forests and biodiversity.

The inhabitants of the region live on fishing and some crops. “It’s a marginal peasant economy of subsistence,” Salazar said.

FROM | www.elcolombiano.com