Invert, a technology startup created by Andres Bilbao, co-founder of Rappi, aims to attract investment to preserve the Amazon and other forest resources. The company plans to foster new thinking about biodiversity conservation based on the crypto economy through blockchain technology, robust monitoring systems, and community partnerships.
Its first initiative was New Eden, an NFT art collection that brings together twenty artists with the common goal of raising funds for the conservation of 26,000 hectares of the Amazon rainforest. However, the company’s most ambitious project is the development of the first play-to-earn metaverse connected to real forests. Through it, players will interact with each other virtually, generate income, have contact with conservation measures, create new digital spaces, and much more. The whitepaper for the metaverse will be released in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Preservation of forests with NFTs
The idea is that digital assets such as NFTs and other Invert tokens will enable people worldwide to engage and be rewarded for contributing to ecosystem conservation.
According to the company’s press release, this is a scalable approach to conservation in which Invert buys land, applies multilateral conservation efforts, and trades digital assets to unlock the services related to the ecosystem.
Bioeconomy needs innovation and creativity
The potential of this market is quite extensive. While deforestation causes enormous direct economic losses, the so-called standing forest can generate financial, social, and environmental gains in a new economic logic: that of the bioeconomy.
However, financial products that reflect the value of the forest have not yet reached the necessary scale, and as a result, the environmental benefits are not yet taken into account. That is why, according to Invert, the world needs new technologies that enable this reach through innovation and creativity.
But how can NFTs contribute to this cause? The answer is simple: part of the investment will benefit the forests. In the first sale of the NFTs, 50% of the collected value will go to Invert and be applied in conservation projects and the acquisition of new lands, while the other 50% will pay the artists. After that, 5% of the revenue will go to the artists in the following resales, and 5% will return to Invert.
“With the amount collected, we seek to conduct sustainable management initiatives in the areas, work support with local communities, payment for environmental services, and carbon storage projects. We want to achieve effective protection of the areas, boosting the regional bioeconomy and well-being of local communities. For this reason, we believe that engaging local communities from the very beginning of a project are crucial to the success of the undertaking”, says the company’s statement. The goal is to promote forest conservation in a decentralized manner, not depending on the public sector and philanthropy.
