What is Native?

Native helps you protect our planet and support indigenous communities with transparency and accuracy. We provide a methodology, a map and a marketplace so that individuals and companies can protect and restore 3m² Squares of the world’s most precious and biodiverse ecosystems.

Every Square is pinpointed on the Native map by our proprietary mapping system. With satellite imaging you can see every single Square you have protected or restored. You don’t have to take our word for it, and neither do your clients - you can see for yourself.

You also receive quantifiable scores for the Squares you protect for a diverse range of environmental and social impact metrics, allowing you to demonstrate your impact clearly and succinctly.

Our ABC Methodology

Our first project is the protection of 60,000 hectares of pristine rainforest in the Pacific region, but soon we hope to have multiple projects around the world spanning protection and restoration of both blue and green ecosystems. Protection involves keeping ecosystems intact, restoration involves regenerating previously degraded ecosystems. This covers both green (terrestrial) and blue (marine) ecosystems including rainforests, mangroves, coral reefs and more.

In order to appropriately value these diverse ecosystems, each Square is given a score (and a price) based on our ABC methodology taking into account Additionality, Biodiversity and Community.

Additionality - We evaluate the carbon density of a given Square and analyze the risk of losing those carbon stocks over a 40 year period.

Biodiversity - We measure the biodiversity within the Square, including intactness, species count, the presence of endemic species, and their vulnerability to extinction.

Community - We examine how thoroughly the project consults and includes the views of local indigenous guardians. They keep 90% of the sale price and spend them in line with the UN SDGs to protect the forest and improve access to education and healthcare.

Protecting a Square of virgin rainforest with a low threat of deforestation might score low for additionality but high for biodiversity, while restoring a Square with a monocrop of pine trees might score high on additionality (newly planted trees actively remove carbon from the air compared to existing rainforest where it’s harder to prove) but low on biodiversity (since monocrops sustain less biodiversity than virgin rainforest).

Our holistic ABC methodology is central to Native’s contribution to evolve the conversation around carbon markets. This is because, quite simply, a Square of rainforest is not just a tonne of carbon. As opposed to the binary reductionism prevalent in mainstream carbon markets, our ABC methodology values and prices Squares holistically, representing their true value in addressing the climate and biodiversity crisis, and their social impact on local indigenous communities. This allows us to give every single buyer, whether it’s an individual or a company, quantifiable scores for all three measures. These scores will be shown transparently on their dasbboard so that individuals can keep track of their impact, while companies can use them to meet their ESG commitments for the benefit of their customers, employees or shareholders.

The Native map

The Native map provides unrivaled transparency and specificity, allowing you to see the Squares you have protected or restored, while those who would like to can demonstrate their impact to key stakeholders. For profiles with 100 Squares or more, we give them the option of showing their logo over the Squares they protect allowing them to convert their impact into clickthroughs and conversions.

Moreover, as communities deploy capital on the ground with the funds generated by Native, they post updates to the Squares so that buyers can see the impact their money is having, whether it’s building a school, a medical center or planting a tree.

Marketplace

Once you have purchased your Squares you can either retire them, trade them or hold them. “Retiring” a Square is equivalent to claiming it as an offset and disables future trading. Although we caution against the concept of “neutrality” or “net zero”, this is important as it prevents double-claiming. Otherwise a buyer might claim the impact of their Squares in an end of year ESG report before trading the Squares to another buyer who can then claim the same Squares. Therefore only retired Squares will show in your Impact Page. Trading Squares will be subject to an 8% fee, while holding Squares keeps your options open to either trade or retire at a later date.

We believe that empowering indigenous communities with financial and cultural autonomy is the best way to protect the world’s most precious and biodiverse ecosystems. That’s why we give 90% of the sale price directly to indigenous communities, and a further 5% of any secondary market trades. This allows them to provide basic necessities such as schools, medical centers and running water without having to exploit or degrade the natural resources which are their only source of income.

We work hand in hand with indigenous communities helping them bring their Squares to market fairly, consulting with them every step of the way and helping ensure that the funds are deployed as wisely and responsibly as possible.

Why buy Squares?

With the rise of B-Corp, and increasing consumer awareness of the need for companies to act responsibly and ethically in a world on the brink of climate and biodiversity breakdown, Native offers a forward-thinking solution which allows companies to sidestep the minefields and reputational hazards of mainstream carbon markets, and position themselves as trailblazers in environmental and social impact.

We believe that the best way to unlock private capital for protecting the planet and supporting indigenous communities is to reward and incentivize companies who do so. That’s why we help our partners maximize the visibility and exposure of their impact.

Apart from displaying your impact transparently on the Native map and your Impact Page, our first buyers will receive the full weight of our media and marketing team. With more than 19 international awards and billions of views, our media and marketing team know how to reach audiences and tell compelling stories. They will produce tailored media content to connect you to the communities you are helping support and the ecosystems you are protecting, so you can demonstrate your impact to key stakeholders whether it’s clients, employees or investors.

Native is an opportunity to transparently, fairly and holistically protect the world’s most precious and biodiverse ecosystems under threat from human activity. There are enormous rewards for those who do so.

To find out more email contact@nativeearth.io