Vivent operates ARR, agroforestry, and REDD+ programmes across Brazil's Cerrado, Colombia's watershed buffer zones, and Peru's Amazon–Andes transition — working with indigenous communities and smallholder cooperatives as genuine co-owners of the carbon they protect and grow.
Latin America contains roughly half of the world's remaining tropical forest — including the Amazon, the Cerrado, the Atlantic Forest, and the Andean cloud forests — representing irreplaceable carbon stocks, biodiversity repositories, and water systems that sustain hundreds of millions of people. At the same time, deforestation pressure remains severe: Brazil's Cerrado loses over 7,000 km² of native vegetation per year, driven by soy and cattle expansion onto smallholder and indigenous territories.
Vivent launched in Latin America in 2022, beginning with a native species ARR programme in Brazil's Cerrado biome in partnership with the XINGU Seed Network — a confederation of indigenous and quilombola seed collectors who have documented and preserved over 600 native species of the Cerrado. Today we also operate in Colombia's Magdalena watershed buffer zones and Peru's San Martín region at the Amazon–Andes transition, where deforestation risk is highest and avoided emissions value most significant.
Latin America is Vivent's most complex legal environment — indigenous land rights, environmental licensing, and carbon right frameworks vary significantly between countries and are evolving rapidly. Our legal partnerships with local environmental law specialists are as important as our agronomic ones. We do not operate in any region of Brazil under active deforestation pressure or with unresolved indigenous land claim disputes.
Three countries, three distinct biomes — each programme built around indigenous or community governance structures that long predate Vivent's involvement.
Indigenous and quilombola communities from the XINGU Seed Network planting 1.2 million native Cerrado trees across 8,400 ha of degraded pasture. 600+ native species. Seed collection generates income independently of carbon. 93% seedling survival.
1,200 campesino farming households restoring 7,600 ha of buffer zone forest along Colombia's Magdalena River tributaries. Water stewardship PES payments stack with carbon income. Native Andean cloud forest species — Roble, Cedro, Nogal.
Awajún and Kichwa indigenous community avoided deforestation programme covering 6,000 ha of high-threat Amazon–Andes transition forest. Community rangers monitor with smartphones. Agroforestry plots of cacao and native timber provide non-carbon income.
Afro-Colombian and indigenous Emberá communities integrating native timber and fruit trees with existing subsistence agriculture across 3,800 ha. CCBA Gold certification for exceptional biodiversity and community outcome scores. Pipeline for additional 2,000 ha.
Pipeline programme — restoration of 3,400 ha of highly threatened Atlantic Forest remnants in Northeast Brazil with quilombola and assentamento communities. Legal consultation underway. One of the world's most biodiverse biomes (<12% original extent remaining).
Quechua communities restoring degraded dryland hillsides with native Aliso, Chachacomo, and fruit tree agroforestry systems. Vivent scoping completed, FPIC process beginning Q3 2026. Water security and erosion control are primary community motivations.
Latin America's carbon programmes are structured differently from other Vivent regions because the legal and governance context demands it. In Brazil and Peru, where indigenous territorial rights are constitutionally recognised, Vivent's agreements are made directly with indigenous councils — not with individual farmers — and carbon rights are held by the community as a collective asset.
Average additional household income from Vivent programmes: BRL 8,400–12,000 per year in Brazil, COP 4.2–6.8M in Colombia, PEN 5,400–8,200 in Peru. This income supplements seed collection fees, agroforestry harvest income, and water stewardship payments — creating a diversified conservation economy that is not dependent on any single revenue stream.
Vivent's Latin America team includes three indigenous rights legal specialists and works permanently with local NGO partners in each country. Our principle: Vivent never holds land rights and always holds carbon rights in a way that communities can exit from with 90 days notice and full retention of their trees.
"We have been the guardians of this forest since long before anyone called it a carbon project. Now the carbon market is beginning to recognise what we already knew — this forest has value. The income helps us defend it and continue our way of life."
Vivent's Latin America credits come from some of the world's most biodiverse and climate-critical landscapes — with rigorous indigenous governance and exceptional co-benefit scores.