Savimbo began when five medical doctors and a community organization of small farm conservationists in Colombia asked an innovative technology company to help them stop the logging activity on their lands. The project was created, and began developing methodologies to document carbon sequestration through forest conservation.
The project began by showing farmers how to track their own offsets using trusted off-grid methods, and assessment toolkits soon included drone photography, satellite monitoring, machine learning, GPS, and blockchain to track offsets from creation to sale. The same tools were later used to develop water and biodiversity credits.
Savimbo pays subsistence farmers direct monthly payments to preserve their local ecosystems. Savimbo’s nonprofit arm subsidizes new communities wishing to certify and sell their credits and then equitably splits gross revenues .
Savimbo’s goal is to reverse and halt encroachment on pristine jungle. Savimbo supports a sustainable regional economy that measurably expands tropical forests and native biodiversity. It addresses multiple levels from smallholder farms of less than 5 hectare, to petroleum and mining interests and narco trafficking.
Savimbo directly specializes in using emerging technology to repurpose remote jungle economies from deforestation to reforesting.
Monitoring and assessing changes in forest cover, carbon stocks, and associated emissions or removals in carbon forestry projects or REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) initiatives.
Savimbo assesses and monitors its impact on forest carbon in relation to deforestation avoidance, reforestation, and biochar production. Monitoring protocols are required for each strategy.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Management practices that focus on strengthening or restoring forest ecosystems to increase carbon stocks and reduce GHG emissions; may also focus on reducing GHG emissions and biodiversity loss from forestry disturbance.
Savimbo supports forest conservation, reforestation efforts, and promotes ecologically-oriented smallholder farming practices. It also supports indigenous forest management practices.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
Projects or initiatives that combine both practices- and outcomes-based analyses to maximize the advantages of both approaches; practices-based methods tend to be highly efficient and cost-effective, while outcomes-based methods may provide more precise data on actual results.
While the impacts of some initiatives are readily measured and monitored, some practices with predictable incomes are assessed on the basis of fulfillment rather than on a complete set of data.
Trust
Self-Reported
/On-Blockchain
Eliminating the use of all pesticides, regardless of whether they are organic or synthetic; often requires the use of biological and physical methods for pest control.
Savimbo promotes ecological practices that reduce the use of pesticides and instead promote organic methods as an alternative to aerial pesticide applications.
Trust
Self-Reported
The practice of planting an area with trees to contribute to ecological restoration efforts in former forest ecosystems.
Savimbo has a forest conservation program certified by Cercarbono that has over 4,000 hectares contracted. It is connected with the REDD+ project with rolling enrollment to avoid loss.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
Strengthening of land-based ecosystems (e.g., forests, grasslands, deserts, tundra, taiga), includes preservation and strengthening of natural systems involving both living (plant and animal species) and non-living (water, soil, atmosphere) factors.
Savimbo carefully monitors primary tree diversity, biodiversity, and carbon. Its varied protocols provide layered assessments of how the project's efforts improve existing terrestrial ecosystems.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
The protection and management of areas in an ecosystem where water drains to a common point (e.g., river, lake, ocean).
Savimbo protects watersheds by preventing deforestation, planting trees along waterways, reducing aerial pesticides, supporting smallholder stewardship, and through a variety of other initiatives.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Monitoring and assessing changes in forest cover, carbon stocks, and associated emissions or removals in carbon forestry projects or REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) initiatives.
Savimbo assesses and monitors its impact on forest carbon in relation to deforestation avoidance, reforestation, and biochar production. Monitoring protocols are required for each strategy.
Trust
Self-Reported
/On-Blockchain
Projects or initiatives that combine both practices- and outcomes-based analyses to maximize the advantages of both approaches; practices-based methods tend to be highly efficient and cost-effective, while outcomes-based methods may provide more precise data on actual results.
While the impacts of some initiatives are readily measured and monitored, some practices with predictable incomes are assessed on the basis of fulfillment rather than on a complete set of data.
Trust
Self-Reported
/On-Blockchain
Eliminating the use of all pesticides, regardless of whether they are organic or synthetic; often requires the use of biological and physical methods for pest control.
Savimbo promotes ecological practices that reduce the use of pesticides and instead promote organic methods as an alternative to aerial pesticide applications.
Trust
Self-Reported
The practice of planting an area with trees to contribute to ecological restoration efforts in former forest ecosystems.
Savimbo has a forest conservation program certified by Cercarbono that has over 4,000 hectares contracted. It is connected with the REDD+ project with rolling enrollment to avoid loss.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
Enhancing the amount and quality of organic materials present in the soil (e.g., decomposed plant and animal residues); plays an essential role in supporting healthy soils through plant growth, soil structure, water retention, nutrient cycling, and overall ecosystem function.
Savimbo's forest conservation and restoration efforts, in combination with their advancement of organic agriculture practices, all contribute to maintaining and improving soil organic matter.
Trust
Self-Reported
/On-Blockchain
Systems in place to collect, relocate, and dispose of solid and liquid waste materials produced by humans.
Savimbo educates stakeholders about managing human wastes with effective toilets and sewage management practices, and also provides education on appropriate practices for livestock waste management.
Trust
Self-Reported
Improvements to suitability of water for human uses; often through the reduction of pollutants or suspended sediments; frequently involves efforts to clean or restore groundwater resources.
Savimbo receives payments for clean water and for water protected on both banks of the Amazon River by showing preservation of primary forests and through invertebrate monitoring.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Monitoring physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of a water source or environment; prevents transmission of harmful bacteria to humans, mortality events, and environmental degradation.
Savimbo uses water quality monitoring programs for pesticides, chemicals, and sewage.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
The protection and management of areas in an ecosystem where water drains to a common point (e.g., river, lake, ocean).
Savimbo protects watersheds by preventing deforestation, planting trees along waterways, reducing aerial pesticides, supporting smallholder stewardship, and through a variety of other initiatives.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Monitoring and assessing changes in forest cover, carbon stocks, and associated emissions or removals in carbon forestry projects or REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) initiatives.
Monitoring and assessing changes in forest cover, carbon stocks, and associated emissions or removals in carbon forestry projects or REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Management practices that focus on strengthening or restoring forest ecosystems to increase carbon stocks and reduce GHG emissions; may also focus on reducing GHG emissions and biodiversity loss from forestry disturbance.
Savimbo supports forest conservation, reforestation efforts, and promotes ecologically-oriented smallholder farming practices. It also supports indigenous forest management practices.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
Projects or initiatives that combine both practices- and outcomes-based analyses to maximize the advantages of both approaches; practices-based methods tend to be highly efficient and cost-effective, while outcomes-based methods may provide more precise data on actual results.
While the impacts of some initiatives are readily measured and monitored, some practices with predictable incomes are assessed on the basis of fulfillment rather than on a complete set of data.
Trust
Self-Reported
/On-Blockchain
Eliminating the use of all pesticides, regardless of whether they are organic or synthetic; often requires the use of biological and physical methods for pest control.
Savimbo promotes ecological practices that reduce the use of pesticides and instead promote organic methods as an alternative to aerial pesticide applications.
Trust
Self-Reported
The practice of planting an area with trees to contribute to ecological restoration efforts in former forest ecosystems.
Savimbo has a forest conservation program certified by Cercarbono that has over 4,000 hectares contracted. It is connected with the REDD+ project with rolling enrollment to avoid loss.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
Enhancing the amount and quality of organic materials present in the soil (e.g., decomposed plant and animal residues); plays an essential role in supporting healthy soils through plant growth, soil structure, water retention, nutrient cycling, and overall ecosystem function.
Savimbo's forest conservation and restoration efforts, in combination with their advancement of organic agriculture practices, all contribute to maintaining and improving soil organic matter.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Strengthening of land-based ecosystems (e.g., forests, grasslands, deserts, tundra, taiga), includes preservation and strengthening of natural systems involving both living (plant and animal species) and non-living (water, soil, atmosphere) factors.
Savimbo carefully monitors primary tree diversity, biodiversity, and carbon. Its varied protocols provide layered assessments of how the project's efforts improve existing terrestrial ecosystems.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Systems in place to collect, relocate, and dispose of solid and liquid waste materials produced by humans.
Savimbo educates stakeholders about managing human wastes with effective toilets and sewage management practices, and also provides education on appropriate practices for livestock waste management.
Trust
Self-Reported
The protection and management of areas in an ecosystem where water drains to a common point (e.g., river, lake, ocean).
Savimbo protects watersheds by preventing deforestation, planting trees along waterways, reducing aerial pesticides, supporting smallholder stewardship, and through a variety of other initiatives.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Expanding the variety of species present within a particular habitat or ecosystem; land stewardship can improve by conserving and protecting wildlife areas; good farming practices that provide ecosystem benefits can also improve and extend the portfolio of on-farm products.
Expanding the variety of species present within a particular habitat or ecosystem; land stewardship can improve by conserving and protecting wildlife areas; good farming practices that provide ecosyst
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Long-term monitoring programs established to track changes in species populations, diversity, and ecosystem health over time.
Monitoring biodiversity is such a core strength to Savimbo, it is working toward offering a certified biodiversity credit to other projects around the world.
Trust
Raw Data
/On-Blockchain
Unmanned recording devices deployed by research projects to capture images, videos and sounds of wildlife; provides insights into species populations, behavior, and community composition.
Savimbo uses game cameras and other recording equipment to monitor biodiversity and wildlife that serve as a critical indicator species for ecosystem integrity.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Global navigational system that utilizes a receiver to collect satellite signals; owned by the United States and operated by the United States Space Force; in the context of EBF, may refer to an MRV aspect of collecting and monitoring data.
Savimbo uses Google Earth Engine, satellite data, government mapping, and other resources to link MRV data to specific locations.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Analysis and characterization of an area’s ecology to visualize extent and suitability of habitats for specific species.
Savimbo uses an automated satellite system for habitat monitoring. Community scientists and indigenous groups conduct sentinel species observations using a photo and geocode system.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
The practice of planting an area with trees to contribute to ecological restoration efforts in former forest ecosystems.
Savimbo has a forest conservation program certified by Cercarbono that has over 4,000 hectares contracted. It is connected with the REDD+ project with rolling enrollment to avoid loss.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
Strengthening of land-based ecosystems (e.g., forests, grasslands, deserts, tundra, taiga), includes preservation and strengthening of natural systems involving both living (plant and animal species) and non-living (water, soil, atmosphere) factors.
Savimbo carefully monitors primary tree diversity, biodiversity, and carbon. Its varied protocols provide layered assessments of how the project's efforts improve existing terrestrial ecosystems.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Systems in place to collect, relocate, and dispose of solid and liquid waste materials produced by humans.
Savimbo educates stakeholders about managing human wastes with effective toilets and sewage management practices, and also provides education on appropriate practices for livestock waste management.
Trust
Self-Reported
Improvements to suitability of water for human uses; often through the reduction of pollutants or suspended sediments; frequently involves efforts to clean or restore groundwater resources.
Savimbo receives payments for clean water and for water protected on both banks of the Amazon River by showing preservation of primary forests and through invertebrate monitoring.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Management practices that focus on strengthening or restoring forest ecosystems to increase carbon stocks and reduce GHG emissions; may also focus on reducing GHG emissions and biodiversity loss from forestry disturbance.
Savimbo supports forest conservation, reforestation efforts, and promotes ecologically-oriented smallholder farming practices. It also supports indigenous forest management practices.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
Fair wages that, beyond providing bare minimum for workers and their families, also allow workers to attain greater mobility and autonomy over their lives.
Savimbo pays a monthly living wage to participants through micropayments to remove the risk of program participation to its workers.
Trust
Self-Reported
Eliminating the use of all pesticides, regardless of whether they are organic or synthetic; often requires the use of biological and physical methods for pest control.
Savimbo promotes ecological practices that reduce the use of pesticides and instead promote organic methods as an alternative to aerial pesticide applications.
Trust
Self-Reported
Sharing knowledge with the public and local stakeholders.
Savimbo provides educational programs to schools on the conservation of rare species and on related stewardship practices and also to influential scientists and leaders outside of the Amazon.
Trust
Self-Reported
Formal partnership between parties with an interest in a project’s success that can affect and be affected by it; may be partners in decision-making, financial gain (e.g., investors), or in other ways.
Savimbo is managed by 100% local staff. It develops projects with indigenous stakeholders to incorporate traditional knowledge and to ensure community buy-in and long-term cooperation.
Trust
Self-Reported
Improvements to suitability of water for human uses; often through the reduction of pollutants or suspended sediments; frequently involves efforts to clean or restore groundwater resources.
Savimbo receives payments for clean water and for water protected on both banks of the Amazon River by showing preservation of primary forests and through invertebrate monitoring.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Monitoring physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of a water source or environment; prevents transmission of harmful bacteria to humans, mortality events, and environmental degradation.
Savimbo uses water quality monitoring programs for pesticides, chemicals, and sewage.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
The protection and management of areas in an ecosystem where water drains to a common point (e.g., river, lake, ocean).
Savimbo protects watersheds by preventing deforestation, planting trees along waterways, reducing aerial pesticides, supporting smallholder stewardship, and through a variety of other initiatives.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Monitoring and assessing changes in forest cover, carbon stocks, and associated emissions or removals in carbon forestry projects or REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) initiatives.
Monitoring and assessing changes in forest cover, carbon stocks, and associated emissions or removals in carbon forestry projects or REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Management practices that focus on strengthening or restoring forest ecosystems to increase carbon stocks and reduce GHG emissions; may also focus on reducing GHG emissions and biodiversity loss from forestry disturbance.
Savimbo supports forest conservation, reforestation efforts, and promotes ecologically-oriented smallholder farming practices. It also supports indigenous forest management practices.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
Global navigational system that utilizes a receiver to collect satellite signals; owned by the United States and operated by the United States Space Force; in the context of EBF, may refer to an MRV aspect of collecting and monitoring data.
Savimbo uses Google Earth Engine, satellite data, government mapping, and other resources to link MRV data to specific locations.
Trust
Self-Reported
/On-Blockchain
Projects or initiatives that combine both practices- and outcomes-based analyses to maximize the advantages of both approaches; practices-based methods tend to be highly efficient and cost-effective, while outcomes-based methods may provide more precise data on actual results.
While the impacts of some initiatives are readily measured and monitored, some practices with predictable incomes are assessed on the basis of fulfillment rather than on a complete set of data.
Trust
Self-Reported
/On-Blockchain
Eliminating the use of all pesticides, regardless of whether they are organic or synthetic; often requires the use of biological and physical methods for pest control.
Savimbo promotes ecological practices that reduce the use of pesticides and instead promote organic methods as an alternative to aerial pesticide applications.
Trust
Self-Reported
The practice of planting an area with trees to contribute to ecological restoration efforts in former forest ecosystems.
Savimbo has a forest conservation program certified by Cercarbono that has over 4,000 hectares contracted. It is connected with the REDD+ project with rolling enrollment to avoid loss.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
Enhancing the amount and quality of organic materials present in the soil (e.g., decomposed plant and animal residues); plays an essential role in supporting healthy soils through plant growth, soil structure, water retention, nutrient cycling, and overall ecosystem function.
Savimbo's forest conservation and restoration efforts, in combination with their advancement of organic agriculture practices, all contribute to maintaining and improving soil organic matter.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Strengthening of land-based ecosystems (e.g., forests, grasslands, deserts, tundra, taiga), includes preservation and strengthening of natural systems involving both living (plant and animal species) and non-living (water, soil, atmosphere) factors.
Savimbo carefully monitors primary tree diversity, biodiversity, and carbon. Its varied protocols provide layered assessments of how the project's efforts improve existing terrestrial ecosystems.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
The protection and management of areas in an ecosystem where water drains to a common point (e.g., river, lake, ocean).
Savimbo protects watersheds by preventing deforestation, planting trees along waterways, reducing aerial pesticides, supporting smallholder stewardship, and through a variety of other initiatives.
Trust
Third-Party Verification
/On-Blockchain
Savimbo’s “fair trade” approach to ecological benefits credits and their commitment to indigenous knowledge and governance informs the entire path from MRV processes to market strategies. To provide subsistence farmers in tropical forests with direct monthly payments for ecosystem preservation, Savimbo’s MRV processes blend hard science and emerging technologies into affordable methodologies for remote, off-grid locations.
Savimbo developed a ground-up, people-forward model that eliminated intermediaries who often consume a substantial portion of revenues through MRV contracts and brokerage fees. Training community members to be the custodians not only of their environs but also of their data stands as a hallmark of Savimbo’s MRV methodologies, technology choices, and market strategies.
Like many projects, Savimbo originally embarked on a path of selling carbon credits to generate revenues for the true stewards of the Amazon rainforest. Measurement methodologies tended to reflect internationally-recognized protocols that could be adapted to local technological and financial capacity, such as tree diameter at breast height, satellite quantification based on canopy cover, below-canopy algorithms, and deforestation calculations.
Recognizing that the ecological benefits of rainforest conservation stretched far beyond carbon, the leaders of Savimbo began to consider additional benefits that they could quantify, often in conjunction with the collection of carbon data. For example, the local manufacturing, distribution, and use of biochar equipment could be linked to soil, carbon, and equity, with quantifiable impacts.
Monitoring of indicator forest species such as jaguars provides data on habitat health and integrity when linked to freely available satellite data, forming the basis of biodiversity credits. Dragonflies over waterways are sentinel species linked to water quality, supporting valuations for water credits. Blockchain data linking the entire process from the creation of ecological benefits to the direct payment of stewards and community researchers provides an API for ensuring equity. Carbon was simply a starting point for data collection.
Eliminating as many intermediaries as possible means that Savimbo must develop reporting methodologies that ensure trust, transparency, and traceability. In order to transform self-reported data into a trusted and transparent credit, Savimbo captures and shares “raw data” that is at once personalized, time-stamped, and geocoded. Photos, videos, and audio document sentinel fauna, forest density, rare plant species, tree plantings, and other key data. Drones, mobile phones, GPS units, and game cameras serve as key elements in the Savimbo toolbox. Savimbo staff collect these data and places them on-cloud, where they are accessible for review by potential credit purchasers, sometimes as front-facing website content.
Savimbo stores data in the cloud that is mirrored to registries for buyer access. When a buyer purchases credits, the associated data are then moved onto blockchain. Savimbo uses a combination of a Web2 system, banking/fiat exchange, and cloud computing as the backbone of their reporting processes.
Savimbo’s carbon credits are certified through the Cercarbono carbon standard credit program, a respected certifier for the voluntary carbon market. Cercarbono partners with EcoRegistry. Savimbo currently has 4000 hectares under contract, grouped together as a REDD+ project for avoided carbon loss through its protected designation. Pilot studies indicated the avoided loss to be between 800-1200 tons per hectare. Rolling enrollment provides the potential for growth of these conserved areas, and periodic audits substantiate Cercarbano’s verification.
Without an existing certifying standard for biodiversity, the Savimbo community began work on creating an internationally-recognized standard for certification of projects like theirs. After review by multiple governing bodies and three international certifiers, their biodiversity methodology is on its way to formal approval, allowing Savimbo not only to generate their own biodiversity credits but also allowing other projects to do the same, adapting the accepted methodologies to their ecosystems.
Risk mitigation is critical to Savimbo’s success. It uses existing risk avoidance strategies developed by reputable international initiatives such as REDD+ and Cercarbono. Savimbo is also careful to ensure that risk management is contextualized to the ecosystems, economics, and dynamic political realities of the Amazon region and Colombia in particular.
In many ways, Savimbo’s long-term conservation successes depend upon its financial successes, as living wages tied to conservation help mitigate land-clearing, illegal logging, and over-harvesting of plants and wildlife. Mining, petroleum extraction, and pesticide applications also pose challenges, as do political upheaval and narcotrafficking. Climate change threatens ecosystem stability through changes in precipitation and an increased potential for wildfires. Savimbo’s commitment to its local communities and the ecosystems upon which they depend is probably its most effective risk management strategy
With a 30-year contract, Savimbo aspires to ensure the long-term impact of its initiatives. While carbon was the initial focus and permanence was based on carbon stocks, Savimbo’s focus on multiple ecological benefits and their potential revenue streams is critical to ensuring ecosystem preservation. The increased revenue potential for the development of multiple credits not only ensures the economic viability of surrounding communities, but it also reinforces the need for holistic approaches to ecosystem conservation.
Savimbo uses conservative discounting for carbon stocks, as required by the Cercarbono and REDD+ “grouped project” methodology that links multiple parcels into a single project. Savimbo can also apply this conservative discounting to non-carbon credits. In addition, Savimbo utilizes a buffer pool, following the Cercarbono and REDD+ grouped project standards. Fortunately,
the same buffer pool can be applied to non-carbon project credits.
Savimbo did extensive research on any potential for additionality based on their project plans according to Cercarbono’s standards and determined that additionality issues were unlikely for carbon or for other ecological benefits.
Savimbo conducted assessments based on Cercarbono and REDD+ standards and determined there was not a likelihood of leakage outside of Savimbo’s boundaries that would offset the project’s targeted carbon emission reductions. Leakage related to other ecological benefits was also unlikely.
Savimbo’s maintains an agile market approach by adopting an agnostic approach to exchanges. They sell credits direct to consumers, via checkout functions, through Web3 exchanges and SAFTs, over-the-counter, and through environmental markets such as CBL and Xpansive.
Savimbo’s buyers are international, primarily from Latin America, United States, Canada, UAE, Singapore and Europe. Their purchasers are all known, and thus far, have been consumers and small businesses. Several corporate buyers are waiting for certification. Savimbo project buyers are motivated by offsetting, consumer publicity, and personal carbon footprint reduction. Savimbo retains ownership until final retirement, but they do allow preselling or trading of fractional credits.
The fair-trade focus frames how Savimbo operates in the marketplace on behalf of its communities. The goal is to return as much of the credit sale as possible to the small farmers and other stewards by minimizing intermediaries that tend to take from 50-80% of the sale, leaving little for the generators of value. Small farmers receive 20-80% of the gross revenues of ecological benefits credits (e.g., carbon, biodiversity, water) through direct monthly micropayments. Not only do small farmers benefit as co-owners of the business, but Savimbo’s staff is 100% local and equitably hired.
About
Team
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