Project Ark, Revolutionizing Fundraising for Animal and Environmental Conservation
Paradigm shifts in society don’t come often, but when they do, there are always the lucky few pioneers that make sure they capitalize on the opportunity of the moment.
Current Wave of Digital Assets
Over the last few years, the crypto world has increasingly offered this very same kind of fleeting opportunity, especially when it comes to the world of digital collectibles, otherwise known as NFTs.
The term NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token, which is a complicated name for what is essentially a digital certificate representing a piece of intellectual property. NFTs are stored on the blockchain, a kind of digital database that acts as a distributed ledger, and can be bought and sold like cryptocurrencies. However, each NFT represents a piece of unique artwork or media file that is not interchangeable with any other form of NFT, meaning that they are rare by design. This makes the creation and circulation of fake collectibles pointless because each item can be traced back to the original issuer.
Now, the NFT market has grown exponentially in the last year. Just to name a few prominent winners, NBA Top Shots has raked in over $230 Million with its platform in just a few months, legendary NFT artist Beeple recently sold a collection of work at Christie’s for $3.5 million in a single weekend and subsequently sold another NFT piece for a whopping $69 Million. Clearly, the world of digital collectibles is on to something great.
Shifting Technology Towards Impact
But what if someone were to utilize this technology to dramatically change the way in which we fund projects for social good? Project Ark has done just that by creating an online marketplace that leverages the exciting new world of NFTs, to directly fund projects that address the immense challenges posed by climate change, loss of biodiversity and wildlife extinction.
Our mission at Project Ark is to revolutionize the way society finances animal and environmental conservation while pioneering new forms of collective governance in the fight to protect our natural world.
Project Ark was created in collaboration with renowned conservation group the World Wildlife Fund, and their Panda Labs division who disrupt ‘business as usual’ practices through bold collaborations that foster environmental innovation around the world.
Project Ark is the brainchild of sustainability start-up Carbonbase, whose team is comprised of experienced social impact and blockchain professionals, dedicated to leveraging cutting edge technology in the fight to protect the world’s most vulnerable species and natural resources.
Future Projects and Vision
Our platform connects passionate artists with purpose-driven buyers, to support international NGO’s and local communities. Project Ark aims to become a home for creatives from all mediums to sell their work, and know that they are making a difference in the process. In exchange, buyers of these rare collectible NFTs will be able to know exactly where the money they spend goes, and the impact it creates. In turn, the vital organizations around the world that we partner with will be able to access new funding and spread the word of their impact even further.
Our pilot project with WWF Panda Labs focuses on enhancing their existing conservation efforts in the Carpathian forests of Romania, home to wolves, bears, Lynx, and the endangered European bison. Once widespread across Europe, the European bison was driven to near extinction in the wild early in the 20th century by hunting and habitat loss.
However, due to extensive conservation efforts carried out by the WWF and its partners, the bison are now roaming the Carpathians once again for the first time in almost 200 years!
First Collaboration
To continue enhancing these conservation efforts for a variety of vulnerable species and slow down the decline of these precious ecosystems, WWF Panda Labs created a program called “Cultivating Community Conservationists”. This community-based conservation program will see that participants are trained on the natural lifecycle of these rare species and engage in the monitoring and counting of a variety of animals during the breeding season.
This will allow for better management of the forests and local wildlife population, creating a collective rewards system if impact is achieved. Project Ark has created a campaign to meet these fundraising goals while elevating the profile of the artists we collaborate with and the amazing work being done on the ground. (More about how the campaign works and how can you get involved will follow)
Once our pilot campaign is completed, Project Ark will continue to partner with some of the world’s most credible organizations in order to support their most impactful projects protecting our natural world. In addition, we will expand our marketplace to include more artists, while providing more unique and rare NFT collectibles for our users.
As part of our greater vision, Project Ark will found the world’s first NFT-backed Natural World Endowments to preserve our planet for the common good. We aim to achieve these, while also creating a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), that will foster collective governance for large scale conservation efforts, protecting some of the world’s most important and vulnerable natural resources.
For more updates, or if you want to get involved in Project Ark, be sure to follow us on our Twitter page.
If you want to know more about Panda Labs initiatives in Romania and in major intervention areas like Kenya, Vietnam and generally the Global South go to the Panda Labs website.
