Nature tech is emergent, but with it, improvements and impairments to nature can be measured with an integrity that can be trusted. Local communities of people, many of them resource-constrained, can steward nature together with inexpensive nature tech. With it, they have the capability to (digitally) measure, report and verify (dMRV) how they are preserving, managing, and restoring nature based solutions (NbS) – measuring value to create value. Nature tech can help mobilise investment because it provides transparency and connection – we can baseline the health of nature and then measure whether a human activity improves or worsens it.
You can’t scale up NbS without engaging, consulting, and including the people who work in nature every day. dMRV brings accountability, fairness and integrity to NbS and also gives us data so that we can reward those who successfully improve the natural environment and those who do no harm. This case study video from the research work of Thriving Natural Capital Centre which I co-lead, explains why decision grade data – from remote and internet of things (IoT) sensors is important for measuring, verifying and reporting improvements in nature based projects.
Focussing on the rainforest restoration at RSPB Scotland’s Glencripesdale rainforest reserve, I show how to measure and report decision-grade data which is trustable and high quality enough to attract investment into nature restoration projects.
(The research is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council: NE/X016455/1).