Coca plants were cultivated on around 171,000 hectares in Colombia in 2017 – with devastating consequences for the environment. Illegal coca cultivation is one of the main causes of deforestation in Colombia. In 2017 alone, the country lost around 220,000 hectares of rainforest (equivalent to around 300,000 football pitches). The impacts on the climate, ecosystems and inhabitants of these regions are considerable. For this reason, the bilateral programme “Protection of forests and the climate” (REDD+) and the project “Global Partnership on Drug Policies and Development” (GPDPD) carried out five pilot projects in Colombia between 2016 and 2018 to show that it is possible to use the forest sustainably and legally.