SBIR Phase I: Biodiversity credits for Indigenous and local communities

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is in addressing the need for innovative financing mechanisms to meet Global Biodiversity Framework targets, the aims of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Kunming-Montreal Accords. The global biodiversity market is projected to value $180 billion by 2050. But the market is in its infancy, lacking clear rigorous science that is market-tested and acceptable to all stakeholders who work in biodiverse regions. This project aims to deliver market-tested public protocols, peer-reviewed scientific methodologies, transparent tracking, clear unitized accountability for biodiversity gains and losses (conservation, restoration, and impact accounting), and provide fair, direct, funding mechanisms to Indigenous Peoples and local communities for their global contributions to planet health. Gains in these components of a fair and functional biodiversity credit market will not only benefit biodiversity frameworks but all nature-based accounting frameworks and broader human health, generating tax revenue, jobs, and sustainable commerce both for US citizens and for global citizens. This project provides a breakthrough approach to biodiversity crediting based on a combination of Indigenous knowledge, high-tech efficiency, and modern scientific understanding of complex adaptive systems. The methodology monitors impact via ex-post crediting of indicator species observations done by locals themselves (game cameras, audio recordings, photos). The novel unit equates to one hectare, over one month, of intact ecosystem where all ecological niches are available to, and filled by, native species. Observations are typically rare, threatened, endangered animals on conserved land which have no other source of conservation funding. Biodiversity credits are then auto-calculated with open-source computer code and released for certification as biodiversity credit commodities to the international market. A highly qualified interdisciplinary team of biodiversity scientists, Indigenous rights experts, and economists are collaborating to commercialize this solution. They address the planet-wide dual-need to: 1) Reward the populations who are actually preserving biodiversity on the ground, and 2) Target high-biodiverse zones without conservation funding. This proposal aims to bring this solution across the rocky terrain of an international frontier market for biodiversity credits, for the benefit of Indigenous Peoples and the continued protection of 80% of the world’s biodiversity and 30% of the intact planet. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.