FAQ

Frequently asked questions and answers from the hactivists at Savimbo

Q: Why is there such a short time period in the base unit? It's not ecologically meaningful...

This is a classic conflation between unit time, and monitoring time. Units must be small to allow for a wide degree of market uses. Monitoring periods must be methodology-specific and are often much longer.

Q: Why are you trying to make a global unit when measuring biodiversity is highly contextual?

This is a classic conflation between metrics/methodologies and units. Metrics and methodologies are for accurate monitoring within a local context. Units are for interoperating globally between contexts such as international commodities markets, Kunming-Montreal accords, National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) corporate accounting.

Q: What about price fluctuations in land?

This is a classic conflation between price and unit. The point of a tangible unit is that it measures the real world, and pricing can fluctuate based on the market value of the real world. The unit was made small because the value of real-world biodiversity is projected to increase significantly in the next fifty years as humans learn to value other species. Small units are more transactable.

Q: Why are you guys commercializing a charitable industry, one that has intrinsic value, etc.?

This is a classic conflation between industry and unit. There are charitable, regulatory, and capitalist markets for biodiversity. We're promoting interoperabel tracking between them, not promoting one solution or the other which are highly ideological to humans but really unrelated to Nature. We either fixed the problem or we didn't. It really doesn't matter how we fixed it.

Q: Why are you focused on indicator species?

We aren't. This unit was designed for one niche methodology, then adapted for all of them. Don't mistake the origin story of the unit for its application.

Q: Who are you guys and why did you think you could do this?

We get this a lot. We're new kids on the block, but sometimes a fresh perspective helps to solve hard problems. We're hactivists from two different cultures. Like the kindergarteners in The Culture Code we didn't think — we forgot about our status in the scientific hierarchy — and we just did. The truth is, it took abandonment of our egos, transdisciplinary thinking, overeducated geniuses in two civilizations, twenty years of grinding grassroots activism, some very accomplished data scientists, and the use of Indigenous ecological knowledge to come up with this unit. We made the unit for our indicator species biodiversity methodology then adjusted it to interoperate with the rest of the market.

If we had a flag it would read: "This planet is awesome!"

Q: Are you guys carbon colonialists/rabid capitalists/scientific posers/extractive douchebags?

No. We're just desperately trying to save the rainforest. Right now, the most expedient method of saving intact ecosystems is to get direct payments to the IPLC who are desperate in a different way, trying to survive as their habitats and native lands are being destroyed. Creating a for-profit business into the hands of local people is the fastest way we have of immediately stopping the destruction. If you want to find out more, check out our website or YouTube.

Q: Do you represent Indigenous Peoples?

No. Indigenous Peoples represent themselves.

We were founded by, and work with, and for, Indigenous Peoples. But any third party who claims to represent them is mistaken at best. We are really lucky to have a lot of Indigenous friends and collaborators who collectively give us lots of great feedback on our products, scientific design, and market decisions but Savimbo is a B-corp with a for-profit and non-profit arm. The for-profit mostly replaces climate colonialism with conscious business, the non-profit is focused on rights for nature.

Q: What is a Voluntary Biodiversity Credit?

A Voluntary Biodiversity Credit (VBC) is a unit for the preservation or restoration of biodiversity on a specific area of land. The voluntary part means VBCs cannot be offset. In other words just because you paid for someone to preserve or restore biodiversity somewhere, does mean you have permission to destroy biodiversity somewhere else.

Some people and companies will pay to preserve other species just because they care, and they can. A VBC is an easy way for someone who doesn't know you, doesn't live in your ecosystem, to feel safe that they are paying you for a concrete action that is well tracked. Sometimes these are certified, sometimes they are just used as an outcome metric to support actions.

The nice thing about using a credit system, is that you can measure biodiversity gains in multiple ecosystems, or with multiple actions. Buyers can buy credits from a wide variety of projects. You could buy credits from increasing pollinators like bees, conservation of intact ecosystems, restoration of ecosystems, or eradication of invasive species.

Biodiversity credits are part of the evolution towards recognizing natural resources as an important part of the world economy. Credits just mean that one kind of outcome metric is roughly equal to another.

Q: How do I measure integrity with my metric/methodology?

That is going to be something you have to work out. This unit just describes the final output you need to put your work in so we can work together more effectively. It's a big planet, it's going to take a lot of different types to fix this problem. (Special Tip: if you can't put your work in terms of this unit, it is highly likely it doesn't actually help other species.)

Q: How does Savimbo check that the other posers in my discipline aren't lying about their outcomes?

We dont! We actually tend to think there is a good place for certifiers, or independent parties, to validate claims about biodiversity outcomes. We're certainly not qualified to be the scientific validity police and there are lots of cool things emerging in this field that we wouldn't want to suppress. The validity of any metric or methodology is going to have to be worked out independently of units. We would strongly advise against metrics and methodologies that are exclusive to IP and LC tho because of cost, technical access, or on-the-ground durability.