I would like to create an online community of people interested in the broad field of biodiversity. My goal is to establish a network in which people can come up with ideas to conserve nature and find like-minded individuals to collaborate with. The community works as a cycle: people who love the beauty of nature or are fascinated by natural phenomenas can share their findings, articles, pictures, etc. They can find related materials to learn more and get closer to the topics they are interested in. In forums, they can discuss ideas to conserve those phenomenas. Once an idea is approved, the participants can start the process by providing data, suggest partners, raise funds, elaborate the idea further and spread the word. This is a way for the community to grow and people from different fields to join. With the right team, the idea can be promoted to an actual project and be implemented. Pictures, test results, studies, articles or possible new problems are documented.
Bienvenue Publishing could be one of those projects. We can find out which topics the network wants to support. Out of the research work, we create new artefacts as artists to increase public awareness and attract participants. The output of our work can be used for fundraising and to communicate about the project.
Concervation-Biodiversity-Model
Token model
Participants receive utility tokens for each article they read and evaluate. The article author receives one token as well for each positive evaluation. As soon as a set amount of utility token has been collected, the participant’s level is upgraded and he becomes a specialist. In case the author is already a specialist in a given field, he can either upload his diploma or be tagged by other experts in his field. The more active and specialised he gets, the more benefits he is granted. Those benefits include content curation rights, priority content placement and enhanced token earnings. The tokens can be used as a payment method for collaborators in the network.
Financing
The financing could be provided by the state who supports one of the projects as well as firms who participate. This could include local governments, airlines wanting to offset their co2 emissions or restaurants who cook locally sourced ingredients and want to support the network for advertising purposes.
To fund a project, the network is the most important tool. The community rates the projects and decides which one they want to support. They offer manpower, money or recommend the projects to other people or firms who might be interested in funding or invest in the endeavour.
Research
There are many global conservation and biodiversity organisations, but they all focus on a specific topic.
The people at arkive.org are creating an inspiring record of life on Earth with the help of wildlife filmmakers and photographers, conservationists and scientists. Freely accessible to everyone and preserved for the benefit of future generations, Arkive is an invaluable resource for conservation, education and public awareness.
In my project, I want to involve the public in the process. They can do more than simply donate money: they can educate, become an activist, change their mindset and help bringing other projects to fruition.
One word of caution
Blockchain is not currently viewed as an environmentally sound mechanism. This is for the most part due to cryptocurrency mining, which uses a very large amount of electricity.
Further information:
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-15/turning-coal-into-bitcoin-dirty-secret-of-2017-s-hottest-market
- https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/08/china-to-curtail-bitconi-mining/
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bitcoin-energy-use-coal-power-cryptocurrency-generation-server-farms-dirty-secret-china-mongolia-a8111666.html
Contact
Oliver Hischier
send@oliverhischier.ch