Realms to Watch: Investing in Biocultural Wealth

Introduction: The Urgent Need for Nature Repair

Our planet faces an urgent need for nature repair and community engagement. Environmental degradation is accelerating at an alarming rate, and the traditional funding mechanisms often fall short in addressing these challenges. The perceived high risk and low returns associated with nature repair projects further deter investment. Additionally, the lack of standardised metrics for ecosystem health complicates the quantification of environmental impact, making it harder for businesses and philanthropists to justify their investments.

Overcoming Financial and Community Barriers

Drawing from almost a decade of experience in the data analysis of human-nature relationships, Guardians of Earth proposes that successful sustainable nature repair requires:

• Access to financial capital to invest into projects.
• Engaged communities that co-invest human and knowledge capital.
• Healthy biocultural knowledge exchange, promoting science-based approaches integrated with local/traditional knowledge systems.
• Transparent verified benefits measurement, considering all aspects of ecological value, including the health of relationships between people and the more-than-human world (biocultural value).
• Wealth creation derived from ecological value and inclusively shared with local communities.

Realms to Watch: An Innovative Approach

Our “Realms to Watch” program is designed to test these above hypotheses at scale and across highly diverse intercultural contexts, seeding inspiring possibilities for a decentralised, democratised, nature repair market that benefits all.

By developing innovative metrics and verification processes, we can transform environmental gains into quantifiable assets, attracting financial capital and ensuring transparency. These assets can be shared by the community supporting on-ground projects, each receiving a share relative to their financial, human, or knowledge capital investment. Most importantly, this program emphasises the importance of local and biocultural knowledge, recognizing that human communities are an integral part of nature. The health of biocultural knowledge exchange is a measure of a community’s capacity to effectively care for nature.

Rewards of Increased Ecological and Biocultural Value

Ecological Value: Ecological value represents the cumulative benefits derived from maintaining and enhancing ecosystem functions through conservation and restoration efforts. These efforts can lead to significant improvements in:

• Biodiversity: Increasing the variety and abundance of locally native species within an ecosystem, which enhances resilience and stability.
• Ecosystem Health: Strengthening the integrity of natural processes such as nutrient cycling, water purification, and soil formation.
• Habitat Quality: Improving the living conditions for native flora and fauna, ensuring sustainable populations.
• Ecosystem Services: Enhancing the benefits that ecosystems provide to humans, such as clean air, water, and resources.
• Climate Regulation: Contributing to carbon sequestration and moderating local climates through healthy, functioning ecosystems.

Our “Realms to Watch” program rewards those contributing to the ecological value of the land with ‘Realm Shares,’ whether via financial capital injection, or the sharing of biocultural knowledge. As the ecological health of the Nature Realm improves, the perceived value of these Realm Shares also increases.

Biocultural Value: Biocultural value, a dimension of ecological value (given that human culture is not separate from the ecosystem from which it emerges), includes the social and economic benefits arising from engaging local communities in conservation or regenerative projects. These benefits include improved community relations and health, educational opportunities, and economic growth. By encouraging inclusivity and giving local caretakers of the land a stake in their land’s value, we enhance resilience and regenerative capacity, leading to greater ecological value over time.

Cultivating Healthy Ecosystems and Wealthy Custodians

A society that excels in generating ecological health, while also attuned to biocultural health, is both vibrant and sustainable. Such a society cultivates increased capacity to deliver meaningful solutions in the face of our planet’s multi-crises: climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. Ultimately, an ecologically and bio-culturally healthy society is conducive to the conditions that enable life to thrive.

Transparent verification processes ensure that the impact of investments is clear and trustworthy, enhancing the overall value and visibility of conservation and regenerative efforts. Additionally, by treating contributing communities as co-investors with their own shares, they are motivated to enhance ecological value for everyone’s benefit. The land itself is also treated as a co-investor, always holding 51% of the Realm’s shares. This symbolises the intrinsic value of the land and its crucial role in sustaining life and prosperity. The land, in effect, is an investor in us.

Role of Guardians of Earth

Guardians of Earth plays a crucial role in measuring and verifying regenerative efforts that deliver ecological and biocultural value. By doing so, we help stakeholders recognize the true value of their investments as tangible assets that contribute to a healthier planet and society. Our platform provides real-time tracking of over 85 million nature observations from more than 350,000 contributors, ensuring that investments are grounded in accurate and comprehensive data.

What is a Nature Realm?

A Nature Realm is a digital twin of the ecological and biocultural health of a specific location. Its value lies not just in the land itself, but in the recorded and verified information that is necessary for its well-being and for the well-being of its custodians. This information includes biodiversity monitoring (human and/or machine observations and species identifications) and extends to nature storytelling — embodying the knowledge and relationships of humans to the land and the more-than-human life it holds. Nature Realms are interactive digital spaces where participants can explore, analyse, document species, and record stories about the culture and the land. These Realms are designed to be “proof of environmental and human health” for a specific location, providing a tangible and measurable way to understand and improve the health of our planet.

Introducing the Seven Realms to Watch

We are excited to highlight seven exceptional “Realms to Watch” which were chosen from over 250 Nature Realms across the globe. These seven Realms exemplify the power of community-led conservation and regenerative projects. Our analysis suggests they are greatly undervalued, especially given their high growth potential. Each are working on projects that we expect will increase their BioScores — an indicator of biodiversity health for the area, taking into account the quality of community biodiversity monitoring — dramatically over the next year.

• San Crisanto Foundation Nature Realm in Mexico — Leading in mangrove restoration and community empowerment. (feature article)
• Nakivale Refugee Settlement Nature Realm in Uganda — Cultivating land stewardship and resilience in a diverse refugee community. (feature article)
• University of Peradeniya Nature Realm in Sri Lanka — Champions of biodiversity monitoring and conservation education. (feature article)
• Pustynia Błędowska Nature Realm in Poland — Developing sustainable cultural and ecological education models. (feature article)
• Mandala Club Nature Realm in Singapore — Regenerating human-nature connection in an urban setting. (feature article)
• Nura Gunyu Nature Realm in Australia — Revitalising fire-impacted land through Indigenous knowledge and mentoring. (feature article)
• Barefoot Ecology Centre (encompassing both the Barefoot at Havelock and Barefoot Scuba Nature Realms) in India — Promoting coral reef conservation and environmental education in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. (feature article)

Want to learn more about each of these inspiring projects? We’ll add links above to a feature article for each Realm as we publish them over the coming days.

You Can Get Involved

Guardians of Earth is sharing this exclusive investment opportunity with our network of influential and values-driven impact investors. There are many ways that you too can be a part of this transformative movement to regenerate our planet and empower communities.

• Follow the Journey: Explore the remarkable stories of each Realm in our “Realms to Watch” series and witness the profound impact of community-led regenerative projects. Follow this blog, or visit our socials (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram).
• Apply for the Next Round: These 7 Realms to Watch are the first of many to come. Are you a leader of a regenerative community that deserves to be in the next round?
• Stay Connected: Sign up for our GoE newsletter to receive the latest updates on the “Realms to Watch” program and other pioneering regenerative initiatives.
• Join the Community: Introduce yourself on the GoE Discord and actively contribute to the discussions that shape this journey.
• Contact Us Directly: Reach out if you have any questions or want to discuss an opportunity.
• Visit Our Website: Visit the Guardians of Earth (GoE) website to learn about the platform that makes this possible.

Act now to support community-led efforts that are revitalising our planet and its communities. Your involvement can drive significant change. Together, we can create a thriving future for all.

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