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Abstract
Greenhouse gas emissions are increasing, and international agreements have fallen short. These agreements encourage cooperation between countries, with industrialized nations supporting developing ones in emission reduction (ER) efforts like REDD+. However, many ER certificates lack real reductions, and some projects harm local communities. Colombia, second in REDD+ projects, lacks comprehensive public project information. Thus, this study aimed to provide an overview of ongoing projects and assess the impact of REDD on ethnic communities in terms of fair returns and deforestation. This was achieved by estimating opportunity costs (OC) and through a fixed-effects model, respectively. Findings show varied OC, with the average surpassing the carbon credit sale prices; and a decrease in annual deforestation of about $-0.1$ percentage points. A fair payment to communities in exchange for forest conservation could be achieved through buyers who value biological and socio-cultural diversity, and achieving real ER requires increased carbon capture or source reductions.