LocationsA strategy for people and planet
Ecuador’s deforestation-free future
April 29, 2025
Ecuador is pioneering efforts to bolster livelihoods while tackling climate and environmental challenges.
Photo: UNDP Ecuador
Ecuador’s vision for a deforestation-free future has yielded great success in recent years. From launching the world's first certified deforestation-free coffee with Lavazza, to supplying Silva Cacao of Antwerp, Belgium, with high quality cocoa for specialty chocolate – the country is pioneering efforts to bolster livelihoods for women, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, connecting them with higher income opportunities, while tackling climate and environmental challenges.
But this progress has been hard-won.
Indigenous Peoples, local communities and private sector companies like Lavazza are at the forefront of efforts to find long-term solutions. They are the driver force in a powerful collaboration led by Ecuador's government, with support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF), alongside UNDP.
What sets Ecuador’s response apart is its commitment to identifying and tackling the drivers of deforestation — agricultural expansion, logging, and infrastructure development — inherent in agricultural supply chains. By working collaboratively across sectors and stakeholders, and with key commodities like coffee, cocoa, livestock and oil palm, Ecuador is seeking not just to curb deforestation but to transform.
The cumulative results of over US$183 million in investment from international climate and environment funds in Ecuador over more than 30 years have – among other achievements – positioned the country as a pioneer in forest conservation and deforestation-free value chains, with 460,000 hectares of protected forest, generating benefits for 1.7 million people.
Socio Bosque: Ecuador as a pacesetter
When Yally Grefa, a member of the Agricultural Production Association of Wayusa, or “Asoprowayli”, began her business in the Sucumbíos province of the Amazon, things were very different. While Yally knew the cultural significance of guayusa, a herbal tea, she didn’t know how to harvest it in a way that could boost her income and protect the environment.
Today, that has changed. “A message that I would give to all young people is to conserve our forests and protect them. By doing so, biodiversity is maintained and preserved, and this aligns with culture. By uniting these efforts, we are stronger,” she said. “[When women in the Amazon] get involved, and they are not afraid, they also have a voice and a vote to make decisions."
The effort to bring local communities to the forefront of decision-making was bolstered by Ecuador’s recognition of the rights of nature in its 2008 Constitution, a world first. The charter enshrined the right to multiculturalism and the autonomy of Indigenous Peoples. Building on this strong foundation, the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition (MAATE) launched the Socio Bosque programme.
This government-led programme was a pacesetter in consulting Indigenous and local communities in the design of sustainable forest conservation and investment plans. By providing financial incentives to landowners and communities for preserving their forested land and protecting ecosystem services, it set a precedent for public and international investments.
Jessica Stefanía Gallegos Yaruquí, Undersecretary of Climate Change at the Ministry, explains: “This collaboration has been key to the design and implementation of the National REDD+ Policy, led by MAATE. It ensures that the national approach is built on principles of equity, transparency, and respect for the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, within the framework of and under the application of REDD+ social and environmental safeguards.”
Starting with REDD+: A pathway to sustainability
As part of this mission to align financial incentives with forest protection, Ecuador’s engagement with the UN-REDD Programme began in 2011. UN-REDD provides technical assistance to forested developing countries to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, drawing on the convening power and expertise of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Environment Programme and UNDP. This partnership drives action on forest conservation and climate resilience activities across more than 65 countries.
Ecuador developed a REDD+ National Action Plan to implement safeguards and a national forest monitoring system, with technical support in forest carbon rights, monitoring and accounting. The National REDD+ Roundtable brings partners together to implement REDD+, including Indigenous Peoples and forest-dependent communities, the private sector, academia and the national REDD+ authority, government entities and civil society.
“This has been a sustained and evolving process, strengthened by the collaborative efforts of the government, the national technical team, the UN-REDD agencies, the UNDP Country Office in Ecuador, and the UNDP Regional Hub for Latin America and the Caribbean, aligned with evolving international climate change decisions and national priorities,” explained Patricia Serrano, UNDP´s Regional Programme Specialist for environment and energy.
Ecuador's official recognition of the rights of nature has put local communities at the forefront of decision making for sustainable forest management.
Photo: UNDP Ecuador
PROAmazonía: Driving broader impacts
UNDP works with the Government of Ecuador to support forest protection by empowering communities with income generating opportunities that support self-sufficiency and sustainability in the long term, for example through the Purple Boots initiative. Building on this work, and with additional support from Italy to strengthen this integrated REDD+ approach, Ecuador’s ministries of environment and agriculture, launched the Comprehensive Amazon Programme for Forest Conservation and Sustainable Production—PROAmazonía.
With support from multiple partners, including the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and bilateral donors the United Kingdom and Italy, the project reflects the broader commitment of UNDP’s global partners—governments, institutions and development actors—to work together on the ground with academia, the private sector, and with communities and civil society. "This initiative provides a good example of how UNDP facilitated the alignment of nature and climate finance to achieve policy coherence and maximize development benefits across all the SDGs in the Amazonian region of Ecuador,” highlights Lyes Ferroukhi, Regional Team Leader for the Environment and Energy Team.
A critical component of the PROAmazonía programme has been the unprecedented collaboration between the environmental and agricultural sectors, shifting agricultural production and integrating it with the conservation of natural capital. Traceability systems have tracked the journey of products from their origin, positioning forest conservation as a differentiating attribute. Communities have been linked with companies, preserving the environment while increasing incomes. More than 70,000 men and women have learned new and sustainable practices to grow everything from livestock and coffee to cocoa beans for chocolate and guayusa for ancestral teas.
Through the Purple Boots initiative, nearly 2,000 pairs of work boots have been distributed to women across the Ecuadorian Amazon. They serve as a tool for empowerment and a visual reminder of the critical role women play in agriculture.
Photo: UNDP Ecuador
Towards an integrated portfolio approach: Self-sufficiency
Shared responsibility across value chains has led to more sustainable management of commercial chains. Collaboration with development banks has created credit lines for sustainable, deforestation-free production and new climate finance. By integrating different funding sources and key public, private and financial sector partners, the portfolio approach ensures long-term results to achieve inclusive and sustainable development and social benefits.
Inka Mattila, Resident Representative of UNDP Ecuador, concludes: "Given the growing constraints on global climate finance, to enhance the channeling of diverse resources towards development priorities, UNDP can play a key role in facilitating diverse financing sources by creating strategic partnerships with the private sector and financial institutions. We also support the creation of innovative financial frameworks that maximize the impact of investment and mobilize resources at both the national and international levels.”
This inclusive cross-sectoral approach has enabled Ecuador to progress towards its nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement on climate change. By incorporating the priorities of all groups in the Amazon involved in forest conservation and value chains, Ecuador has pioneered a model that goes beyond aid, focusing on financial resource management for regional sustainability, mobilizing profits and protecting the country’s natural assets.
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