Community-held forest · Colombia
Putumayo
The forest where seeing a jaguar pays the farmer.
Putumayo: the numbers, sourced
As of July 2026.
- 3,184 hectares — of primary rainforest under 30-year conservation agreements across 70 titled smallholder farms at Villagarzón. Cercarbono project registry, current.
- ~74,200 hectares — protected across Savimbo’s wider network of 300+ Indigenous and smallholder families. Mongabay, July 2024.
- 50% — of biodiversity-credit revenue paid directly to the landowning family. Savimbo; EBF Commons, current.
- Jaguar-verified — payments trigger on camera-trap evidence of jaguars using the land — the forest’s own indicator species. Savimbo; Mongabay, current.
What was lost at Putumayo?
The Putumayo piedmont — where the Andes pour into the Amazon — is one of the most biodiverse corners of the Tropical Andes hotspot, held mostly by smallholder and Indigenous families with no conservation economy behind them. Standing forest earned nothing; cleared forest earned something. The math was killing the trees.
What brought it back?
Savimbo, an Indigenous-led B Corporation built by and for the region's smallholders, inverted the math: families sign 30-year conservation agreements and are paid when camera traps verify jaguars — the indicator species — still crossing their land. Half of every credit sold goes directly to the landowning family (Savimbo; Mongabay, July 2024). The core project protects 3,184 hectares of primary rainforest across 70 legally titled farms around Villagarzón, certified by Cercarbono as the first credits of their kind.
What is it like now?
Across its wider network, Savimbo works with more than 300 Indigenous and smallholder families protecting around 74,200 hectares of Amazon forest (Mongabay, 2024). The jaguars keep triggering the cameras; the families keep getting paid; the forest keeps standing.
Who does the work?
The farmers themselves are the rangers here — 70 families around Villagarzón, 300+ across the network, with cameras on their own land and revenue in their own names. The project is run from the region, not at it.
How do you visit Putumayo?
Travel to Putumayo is young — there is no polished lodge circuit yet, and that is part of the point. Savimbo is the door: they connect visitors and supporters directly with the communities doing the work.
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