Protecting the Amazon in Peru. Keeping forest standing beside a new road.

Why Madre de Dios

Madre de Dios is a region of Amazon rainforest in Peru. It holds so many kinds of plants and animals that it is known as the country’s capital of biodiversity. The project area on its own is home to four endangered species of rainforest tree and eleven endangered species of wildlife.

That forest is being lost. Ecologi’s page reports that satellite images point to a rise of more than 60% in carbon emissions from deforestation between 2006 and 2010. The Peruvian government’s own figures show forest loss in Madre de Dios climbing since 2001. It reached a peak in 2017, when the region had the second highest rate of forest loss in Peru.

The road

The project was designed around one particular threat: a new road across the Amazon, linking Brazil with the Pacific Ocean and Peru’s ports. Ecologi’s page describes the road as nearly finished.

The page expects the road to bring new settlers into the region, who are likely to live by farming and keeping livestock. That means trees cut down to make fields and pasture, and damage to the forest that is left. The same thing has already happened on the Brazilian side, where the road was completed earlier.

How the project cuts emissions

A living forest holds a huge amount of carbon in its trees and soil. When it is cleared or burned, that carbon goes into the air as carbon dioxide. Keeping the forest standing keeps the carbon where it is, and lets the trees go on absorbing more.

This is known as a REDD+ project, which stands for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. It has two main aims.

• Less pressure to clear land. The project works to reduce the conversion of forest into farmland and cattle ranches.
• Careful forestry. Two timber concessions operate inside the area. The project makes sure they are managed sustainably, so the forest is used without being destroyed.

What it adds up to

Ecologi’s page says that protecting this area will keep 659,793 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent out of the atmosphere each year. That is the project’s planned figure. The page does not put a date on it and does not publish a running record of results, so we cannot give a dated total.

The project is also meant to help the indigenous communities who live nearby. It offers other ways to earn a living, more local jobs, and technical training courses for young people.

How the project is checked

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

It is certified by outside standards as well. Ecologi states that the project is verified under the Verified Carbon Standard and the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards, and links to its entry on the Verra registry, project 844.

There is a further check. A technology company called Pachama monitors the forest using satellite images, machine learning and other methods such as laser scanning (LiDAR). It reports what it finds to the project developer and the certifier. Ecologi describes this as a closer level of monitoring than forest protection projects normally get.

The page does not name the organisation that developed the project, so we do not name one here.

What Printlogik has funded here

Ecologi’s public record names this project among those that Printlogik’s contributions have gone to through the Print A Tree Project. Ecologi does not publish a figure for how much carbon we have funded at each project, so we cannot give one for Madre de Dios.

What Ecologi does publish is our total across all the carbon projects we have supported. That total is shown on the Print A Tree page.

Ecologi now lists this project as previously funded, which means it is no longer taking contributions for it. Every order we print still makes a contribution through Ecologi, and that goes to the projects it supports 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 13 of them.

• 1No poverty
• 3Good health and well-being
• 4Quality education
• 5Gender equality
• 8Decent work and economic growth
• 9Industry, innovation and infrastructure
• 10Reduced inequalities
• 11Sustainable cities and communities
• 12Responsible consumption and production
• 13Climate action
• 15Life on land
• 16Peace, justice and strong institutions
• 17Partnerships for the goals

Where it is

Madre de Dios, Peru · 12.3°S, 71.1°W

Location	Madre de Dios, Peru
Type of project	Forest protection
Status	Ecologi lists it as previously funded and no longer takes contributions for it
Full record	See it on Ecologi