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Good practice

BanCO2 - Colombia Voluntary PES Platform

Colombia · Medellin · See the Colombia profile

Colombia's national voluntary PES marketplace: private companies and public entities compensate their ecological footprint by paying >13,000 rural and indigenous families to conserve 170,000+ ha of strategic forest and watershed ecosystems.

13,000+
Families enrolled (by 2023)
170,000+
Hectares conserved (by 2023)
19
Departments covered (by 2023)
200+
Corporate buyers participating
26 of 33
Regional Autonomous Corporations (CAR) supporting the platform
200,000-600,000 COP
Monthly payment range per family
BanCO2 - Colombia Voluntary PES Platform

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Masbosques / CORNARE
Period
2013-present
Keywords
Forest, watershed, biodiversity, corporate compensation

Context

BanCO2 is Colombia's first national voluntary payments-for-environmental-services platform, created in 2013 by CORNARE (the regional environmental authority for eastern Antioquia) and now managed by Masbosques, a non-profit foundation.

Activities

The platform connects private companies and public entities — over 200 corporate buyers — with rural, indigenous, and Afro-Colombian families who conserve strategic forest, paramo, and watershed ecosystems. Participating families receive monthly payments of COP 200,000-600,000 for conserved hectares, supported by 26 of Colombia's 33 Regional Autonomous Corporations (CAR).

Results

By 2023, the programme engaged more than 13,000 families protecting 170,000+ hectares across 19 departments, supporting conservation of water catchments, Andean forest carbon stocks, and biodiversity across Colombia's six natural regions.

Conclusions

BanCO2 originated as a model for corporate water-footprint compensation and has since expanded to address restoration and agroforestry; it is being replicated in Peru to support Amazonian ecosystem conservation.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Monthly payments of COP 200,000-600,000 per family to 13,000+ enrolled families; no aggregate total programme budget disclosed.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Platform created 2013; ongoing as of 2023 reporting; being replicated in Peru.
Staffing & skills
Masbosques (non-profit foundation), platform manager, CORNARE, founding regional environmental authority, 26 of Colombia's 33 Regional Autonomous Corporations (CAR), 200+ corporate/public buyers

Conditions for success

  • Monthly direct payments (COP 200,000-600,000) to participating families for conserved hectares
  • Corporate water-footprint compensation model creating buyer demand
  • Broad institutional buy-in from 26 of 33 regional environmental authorities

Where it fits

Governance type
NGO-managed national voluntary PES marketplace with regional government support
Scale
national (19 of Colombia's departments)
Income level
upper-middle-income

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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