18th Jun 2024 Gemini 1.5 Pro
This podcast episode of The Regeneration Will Be Funded features Austin Wade Smith, the Executive Director of Regen Foundation. Host Matthew Monahan engages in a profound discussion with Smith about the potential of Web3 technologies to bring economic and data legibility to the natural world, particularly through the lens of rights of nature and beyond-carbon ecological credits.
Regen Foundation, the non-profit arm of Regen Network, is dedicated to ensuring that the future of climate finance is community owned and governed. Smith emphasizes the ethical imperative driving their work, highlighting the urgent need for transparency and integrity in a multi-billion dollar climate finance industry where only a small percentage of projects verifiably contribute to regeneration.
"Everything is on the line ... roughly 3% of climate finance projects related to carbon can really verifiably prove that they've actually regenerated the biosphere. ... I oftentimes tell people, I'm not convinced this will work. I think it's one of the best ideas I've heard in a long time."
Regen Network distinguishes itself by advocating for a more holistic understanding of regeneration that goes beyond carbon sequestration. While acknowledging the importance of carbon, Smith emphasizes the interconnectedness of planetary regeneration, advocating for a broader set of parameters that encompass the entire biosphere.
Smith introduces the concept of "legibility" as a central theme in their work. They draw an analogy with cameras, highlighting how the technological design of a camera determines which colors it can perceive. Similarly, economic and legal systems have inherent limitations in recognizing and valuing the natural world.
The Rights of Nature movement emerges as a powerful example of increasing the legibility of the more-than-human world within the legal system. By granting legal personhood to entities like rivers and forests, this movement allows courts to recognize their right to exist and thrive.
"The brilliance of what the Voices of Nature or the Rights of Nature movement has done is that it has found a way to make the more-than-human world legible to the legal system through personhood. And courts see people, and there's established laws around injury or the right to prosperity, the right to be at all, to exist."
However, Smith points out that legal recognition is only the first step. Enforcing these rights requires resources and action, highlighting the need for economic models that support the stewardship of the more-than-human world.
Smith argues that valuing the living world is not a new concept. Humanity has long pegged wealth and power to natural resources. What Web3 and blockchain technology offer is a revolutionary opportunity for transparency and direct value exchange with the more-than-human world.
The Regen Network envisions a future where ecosystems like rivers and forests have unique digital addresses or "wallets" on the blockchain. This would allow for the creation of "eco-credits" that go beyond carbon sequestration to encompass a wider range of ecosystem functions, such as pollinator health, aquifer restoration, and keystone species protection.
"And so the sort of new introduction that Web3 might allow is that those resources can be directly paid to the forest itself that's doing it, maintained by the stewards and the communities that are the forest too."
This system would enable a more direct and transparent flow of value to the stewards and communities directly involved in regeneration efforts. Imagine a scenario where individuals cleaning up a river or restoring a habitat could receive eco-credits as compensation for their labor, directly benefiting both the humans and the ecosystem they are supporting.
The question of governance emerges as a crucial consideration in this new paradigm. Smith emphasizes the importance of listening to and learning from indigenous communities and traditional ecological knowledge systems that have long understood the principles of stewardship and the commons.
Regen Foundation envisions a future where governance models for ecosystems are decentralized and locally driven. Blockchain technology can be a powerful tool for scaling these commons-based approaches by providing transparent and secure systems for managing resources and distributing value.
"And if there's one thing my read that the blockchain and DAOs in particular can do is scale and make durable and easily distributable models for how people manage common pool resources. That's like one of its best contributions, scaling the commons."
Smith also underscores the importance of bioregionalism, advocating for economic models that prioritize local value exchange and recognize the unique characteristics of different ecosystems. A one-size-fits-all approach to regeneration, they argue, is unlikely to be successful.
Ultimately, Smith believes that Web3 technologies have the potential to create a more just and equitable system that recognizes the interconnectedness of humanity and the natural world. By redefining our relationship with value and acknowledging the intrinsic worth of the more-than-human world, we can create a future where regeneration becomes the defining principle of our economic systems.