Ecosystems are famously complex. The challenge we face is providing a straightforward way to measure and value this complexity. Following our introduction to the world of biodiversity credits, this second post in the series delves deeper into the innovative solutions made possible by strategic partnerships ERA has established with Regen Network and Okala.
These collaborations are essential to champion the effectiveness of conservation initiatives and ensure investor confidence. Through this complementary partnership, our biodiversity credits leverage cutting-edge technology. Specifically, we use blockchain-backed data traceability to ensure the verifiability of our credits, and employ artificial intelligence to analyze large volumes of raw ecological field data, transforming them into biodiversity metrics and conservation outcomes.
The Quest for a Transparent & Robust Marketplace
The stewards of our landscapes offer a powerful pathway for reversing biodiversity loss and unlocking the largest untapped market in the world: the benefits generated by Earth’s ecosystems.
How can we ensure transparency and trust in a biodiversity market marked by vast ecosystem and project diversity? This is a central challenge we face when trying to establish effective mechanisms for stewards to monetize their ecosystem benefits
Regen Network’s marketplace is a new contracting platform for stewards to get rewarded for ecological regeneration projects. By improving the state of our land, oceans, and watersheds and enabling rewards for verified positive changes, Regen Network catalyzes the regeneration of our ecosystems.
The Regen Network incorporates blockchain technology through the Regen Ledger, offering a marketplace with the following pillars:
· Trust by anchoring ecological data on the Regen Ledger blockchain,
· Transparency into the science behind the claims,
· Accountability in credit issuance, transfer, and retirement,
· Flexibility of eco-credit and methodology design, and
· Community by governance of the blockchain protocol.
This system is essential for ecological regeneration and self-governance, ensuring transparency and integrity of environmental data and transactions related to conservation credits. It not only facilitates the issuance, trading, and management of these credits, but also enables communities to take ownership of the market infrastructure and influence accreditation standards, promoting more inclusive and open management.
Regen Network brings together various projects from different Payment for Environmental Services (PES) methodologies in its marketplace, one of which is our Methodology for Biodiversity Stewardship Credit, which has successfully launched two inaugural pilot projects: 1) Biocultural Jaguar Credits, Ancestral Stewardship in the Sharamentsa Community, Pastaza, Ecuador and 2) Jaguar Stewardship in the Pantanal Network. The Ecuador project protects 10,000 hectares of critical jaguar habitat, facing pressures such as illegal logging and mining that threaten both the forest ecosystem and indigenous cultural heritage. The Sharamentsa community, belonging to the Achuar Nation, plays a key role in this project, which seeks to integrate ecological conservation with economic development, leveraging the community's extensive knowledge of the forest, highlighting the crucial role of the community in preserving the diversity of the Amazon ecosystem and maintaining indigenous cultural traditions. Over half of the credits from this project have already been purchased.
In summary, the partnership with Regen Network allows our Methodology for Biodiversity Stewardship Crediting to use blockchain technology to ensure that each biodiversity credit is fully traceable, building trust between land stewards and credit buyers. This not only provides a solid foundation for credit integrity but also facilitates transparency for all stakeholders, ensuring that the positive impacts of each project are clear and verifiable.
The Quest for Quality Data Analysis & Monitoring
Have you ever wondered how we can effectively and reliably scale biodiversity monitoring? The demand for biodiversity credits is growing, but for it to be sustained and effective, it is crucial to ensure an adequate supply of credits that deliver positive and verifiable outcomes for nature. This includes the need for monitoring systems that can operate on a large scale while maintaining high data integrity. Without this, conservation efforts can become inefficient and unable to attract the necessary funding for long-term projects.
In this context, the Okala platform emerges as an essential solution. Okala designs and deploys next-generation nature tech to analyze and synthesize satellite and ground-based ecological data: from satellite maps of landscape cover to audio recordings, environmental DNA samples and wildlife camera videos. Using their AI+ ecological expert analytics pipeline, they bind the raw ecological data to the biodiversity accountancy required to evidence nature-positive impacts in a trusted and traceable way. Moreover, they do it at scales that can ensure the effective monitoring of whole ecosystems.
Currently, the company monitors over 1 million hectares in 12 countries across 4 continents with thousands of wildlife camera/bioacoustics sensors and hundreds of environmental DNA sampling stations. Okala has already identified 2340 species and is ready to make all these numbers grow, highlighting the extent and depth of its monitoring capacity.
In partnership with Okala, we have begun implementing advanced MRV technologies to analyze vast amounts of field data that was collected through measurement equipment such as camera traps, eDNA and bioacoustics. This collaboration ensures that conservation efforts are based on solid scientific evidence, providing a reliable assessment of the environmental impact of our projects. Together, we are ensuring a sufficient and high-integrity supply of credits that truly deliver tangible positive results for nature.
Call to Action
We invite all stakeholders to join us in this new ERA of biodiversity by joining our Biodiversity Stewardship Club.
Through partnerships with Regen Network and Okala, we are cultivating a future where biodiversity is not only conserved but truly empowered. Stay tuned for the next posts, where we will dive into details about stacking environmental assets and our pilot project in the Pantanal.
By supporting our biodiversity credits, you contribute to a conservation strategy that is robust, transparent, and widely beneficial for our planet.
To purchase credits from the Biocultural Jaguar Stewardship project click here.
To purchase credits from the Pantanal Jaguar Stewardship project click here.
To join our Biodiversity Stewardship Club, download our Manifesto on our website.
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