We need nature.
Restoring and preserving nature is a key arrow in humanity’s collective quiver to address the twin existential threats of climate change and biodiversity loss. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity is therefore calling for 30% of the planet to be protected by 2030.
But this will cost money, and a lot of it — estimated at USD 140 billion per year (compared to the USD 24 billion we currently spend on nature conservation). This gap — an annual deficit of USD 116 billion per year — is nature’s funding gap.
Traditional sources of nature finance, such as donor and public funding, obviously fall well short of plugging this gap — highlighting the need to unlock private capital for nature conservation via innovative investment structures.
Enter NFTs.
NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are unique digital tokens powered by Blockchain Technology and an alternative investment instrument.
‘Non-fungible’ means that an object is unique and cannot be replaced with something else. A commonly used example is the Mona Lisa painting. If you trade the painting you’d receive something completely different in return, and even though there are many convincing knock-offs of her out there, there is only one Mona Lisa.
These characteristics have resulted in NFTs being a highly attractive investment and a sought-after collectible. And the market is growing exponentially. More than $2 billion was spent on NFTs during the first quarter of 2021, an increase of about 2,100% from Q4 2020.
This staggering number includes Beeple’s digital-only artwork which sold for USD 69 million; Jack Dorsey’s first tweet which sold for USD 2.9 million; and NBA Top Shot, a platform for buying and trading NBA highlights, which surpassed USD 500 million in sales in March 2021.
So what do NFTs have to do with nature conservation and restoration? And how do we tap into this innovative technological (and financial) development to solve nature’s funding problem?
NFTs are prized because they are unique, scarce, immutable, and easily accessible. Anyone can purchase an NFT (provided you have the capital and an internet connection) and prove ownership of that specific digital item.
Like NFTs, nature is unique, scarce, and immutable. But it is not easily ‘accessible’ — land is expensive (precluding many from investing in land for conservation) while nature conservation funded through donations is a zero-sum game. If we could change that, we believe that a vast amount of investment can be unlocked for nature.
This is why we are building Wildr.
Wildr is the world’s first investment platform that leverages blockchain technology to enable investment in, with, and for nature.
Wildr creates investable NFTs that secure landscapes, ecosystem services, and biodiversity around the globe — enabling investors to purchase NFTs that represent unique segments of physical wild space, thereby preserving and restoring those areas.
Scarcity, impact, and natural capital are the drivers of the value of Wildr’s NFTs, while gamification elements and bespoke mapping technology will drive value and benefits for investors (including non-financial ones, such as the opportunity to visit the conservation areas).
We believe that easy access to NFTs that are backed by nature itself is an innovative investment opportunity as well as a valuable tool to address nature’s funding gap. We are just starting on this journey and we would love to hear your thoughts. Please join us at wildr.earth or email us at info@wildr.earth.
