Summary
There is great work happening at Bankless Africa! If you have not yet heard of the Carbon Collectible NFT project, now is a great time to learn more about this initiative. We are looking for more contributors to help develop and execute our marketing and sales program. If you have creative marketing skills and the time to make a difference in the lives of others, then please contact info@ccNFTs.io for more information or join #carbon-collectible-NFTs thread in #workgroups in the Bankless Africa Discord Category.
Brief Background
Many of the world’s old-growth forest communities are prevented from participating directly in the current large-scale solutions to climate change. This is mainly due to narrow traditional carbon offset parameters which exclude mature forests, instead favouring reforestation projects — known as ‘additional’ forests. The issues are often compounded by the high cost of intermediaries and the transfer of land ownership rights to corporations.
We believe that disadvantaged communities who have healthy, remote, mature forests that are existing and not additional, should be celebrated and not subjected to serial penalization. Carbon Collectible NFTs are designed to right this wrong and provide equal access to forestry revenue.
By leveraging Web3 innovations to eliminate traditional intermediaries, we plan to disrupt the traditional carbon offset industry. Our solution extends equity and inclusion to climate finance by including mature forests and by reducing certification costs to near $0.
Read on for more detail on this amazing initiative
Where did this NFT journey in Bankless Africa begin? Much like all initiatives in the DAO it started with an idea. The idea was simple: help Avatime, a low-income community in the Volta Region of Ghana, to create value while maintaining ownership in the mature natural resources of their land. The current model of resource extraction and depletion by imperial powers just isn’t working for folks in local communities, nor for the planet at large.
The key problem this NFT project addresses is that many mature forests are excluded from selling traditional carbon offsets. Traditionalists regard carbon sequestration by mature forests as “business-as-usual” rather than additional. Certification costs can exceed $700K, which makes traditional carbon offset projects exclusive and unaffordable. As a result, some low-income communities in Africa resort to illegal deforestation and starting bushfires to convert their mature forest into farmland, so they can feed their families.
We want to change that through Carbon Collectible NFTs: to reward these communities for actions which nurture and protect their precious forest, to remove exclusive and expensive intermediaries who may never even visit the area, and to empower caring citizens from around the globe to contribute in a way that directly supports the community and the planet.
How can individuals make a difference in the fight against climate change?
We encourage you to minimize your personal carbon footprint. Second, we encourage you to offset whatever emissions you cannot eliminate. A Carbon Collectible NFT is not a historical or traditional carbon offset. Instead, it represents current and future carbon sequestration. Also, we use a percentage of your purchase price to fund forest management activities and a social innovation studio.
In collaboration with Bankless Africa, Carbon Collectible NFTs is planning an initial private sale of 2,000 NFTs for approximately $500 USD each, priced in Matic. Each of our NFTs includes digital and virtual rights to 1-hectare of the Avatime forest. While the existing land owners will retain full ownership of the land and the trees, the virtual rights include gaming and metaverse applications, plus five real-world Web3 carbon offsets per year, for 10 years.
We are excited about our inclusive Web3 business model which expands on the inherent value of mature forests. We’re creating a disincentive for deforestation and an incentive to maintain a mature, diverse forest and plant new trees. Our NFTs fund current and future carbon sequestration, which contributes to the world’s ongoing fight against global warming. Conversely, traditional carbon offsets fund historical carbon, which is yesterday’s fight against global warming.
Listen to the Podcast introducing the challenges for communities in Ghana and throughout the African continent. Learn what is a carbon offset and begin to understand how the intermediaries within the carbon market industry are disastrous for forest communities.
A new era for Africa, Carbon Collectible NFTs Bankless Africa Project Introduction
Sixty-five percent of the proceeds from NFT sales will go towards funding forest management (15%) and a Social Innovation Studio (50%). Through the Social Innovation Studio we will elicit problems and potential solutions from the Avatime community and then motivate our Web3 community to develop profitable and sustainable solutions with the latest technology. The benefits of our Social Innovation Studio include funding for local entrepreneurship, regenerative forestry practices, and adaptive economic development.
The Carbon Collectible NFT solution uses satellite imagery, machine learning and artificial intelligence to automatically measure carbon sequestration rates for the Avatime forest. To add physical rarity to our NFTs, we geolocate rare sites of interest such as waterfalls and caves, then calculate their proximity to each NFT’s dedicated block of forestry. Our satellite navigation app enables NFT owners to zoom in on their dedicated block of forestry to view tree cover and natural features, providing enhanced provenance and transparency. Likewise, using NFTs and a blockchain to automatically track our voluntary Web3 carbon offsets will ensure transparency and prevent double counting.
We have a small dev team who have been building the Web3 components: the Smart Contract for the NFT and a SatNav App. We reached out to Web3 evangelists like Polygon, Popcorn, Fuse, Chainlink, and others. Removing intermediary consultants for validation of the carbon sequestration meant hiring a data scientist to access satellite data from a third-party oracle. Although satellite images are imprecise, they offer coverage opportunities for forest areas that are inaccessible or where a human presence could be detrimental.
Our smart contract audit has just recently been published by WhiteHat DAO. We are thrilled to work with trusted and high quality Bankless DAO members. We are currently implementing the recommendations brought about by the audit.
Next steps
Our focus is now on marketing and sales, in collaboration with Polygon Studios. You can help!
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If you have creative marketing skills and the time to make a difference in the lives of others, then please contact info@ccNFTs.io for more information or join #carbon-collectible-NFTs in the Bankless Africa Discord Category.
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Check out the latest Dao Production introducing the challenges that web 3 is helping to overcome in Africa. A new era for Africa, Carbon Collectible NFTs Project Interview - YouTube
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To join our waitlist or obtain more information about how we use Web3 tools to disrupt the carbon offset industry, visit our website at http://ccNFTs.io.
We encourage you to watch and share our short video at
http://V1.ccNFTs.io.
And our longer video from our new YouTube Channel!
A New Era for Africa
