Santa Helena do Ingles Biodiversity Monitoring

Santa Helena do Ingles is a community located in the Negro River margins. Since I was born I live here, and since the age of 12 years old, my father brought me and my brother to work with him cutting trees in the forest as our only way to earn income. Here people often didn’t have a chance to study, but due to most of the time being spent in the forest, the forest educated us. We have learned how to read nature. Today, our community can make money on less hurtful activities such as tourism, fishing and biodiversity monitoring, like the work done with GainForest, and without having to spend months away in the forest. Today I am a successful owner of a Jungle Inn in the Negro River margin where I earn a living by conserving our biodiversity and teaching about our territories. Our community now can thrive through other non-harmful activities such as community-based tourism, artcrafts, and selling of fruits and fish. However, due to extreme droughts in the Amazon, our guests cannot reach our communities in those seasons. The income we earn from biodiversity monitoring through GainForest gives us extra financial support and gives me a lot of information about our species that I share with my guests on our tours. I am monitoring the biodiversity of my territory through the use of Audiomoths and drone imaging from the canopy of our community’s most vital trees for our socio-economic well-being. By combining our traditional knowledge of flowering and fruiting seasons with precise tree mapping, assisted by the GainForest team, we created digital maps that guide us directly to productive trees. This reduced long forest searches to single-day operations, significantly improving our harvesting efficiency of target species and lowering our exposure to diseases such as malaria and dengue. Audio recorder implementation and sound analysis were essential for capturing bird, frog, insect and mammal species richness and their daily dynamics, allowing us to identify the best hours for hunting, for spotting targeted species in trails with guests, and for identifying the presence of culturally important species such as the Urutau, (a.k.a. the ghost bird; Moon’s mother) (Nictibyus griseus). It also allowed my son to earn a support income through GainForest’s Conservation Data Income (CDI). These solutions provide a reliable support income while empowering our communities’ traditional way of living.

SORALO Women-Led Grass Seed Banks

SORALO’s Women-Led Grass Seed Banks restore degraded rangelands while creating economic opportunities for Maasai women. At the Lenkobei site, one of four sites across 80 hectares, 20 women are actively involved in cultivating and harvesting native grasses to reseed overgrazed lands, revitalizing grazing areas, and strengthening ecosystem health. So far, the initiative has restored over 80 acres, ensuring sustainable pastoralism and wildlife coexistence. Beyond ecological impact, the seed banks generate income that supports families and funds school bursaries, fostering long-term community resilience. By combining restoration with economic empowerment, SORALO is securing a healthier future for both people and nature.

Parque das Tribos: Digital capacity building for Indigenous communities

The Parque das Tribos is dedicated to preserving Indigenous culture while integrating modern technology. Through workshops on Artificial Intelligence, we are introducing AI to our community to enhance cultural preservation, protect the environment, and strengthen our traditions. These workshops also offer the community tools to apply technology in local projects like reforestation and language preservation, bridging the gap between tradition and innovation. This work is vital for ensuring our culture thrives in the modern world while maintaining a sustainable relationship with our lands and waters. We are using our AI system, Tainá, to gather and share important data about our green areas, such as environmental conditions and audio recordings of the forest. This data helps us better understand and protect our land and waters, preserving traditional knowledge and ensuring the sustainability of our natural resources for future generations.

Oceanus Conservation: Integrating Local Knowledge and Technology for Mangrove Conservation in Barangay Tumanan (December 2024)

The BKCF Project: AI/Machine Learning-powered Digital Monitoring of Mangrove Ecosystems is a collaboration between Thinking Machines, Oceanus Conservation, and GainForest, conducted in Bislig, Surigao del Sur, Philippines. Oceanus trained 11 local surveyors to use smartphones for data collection, replacing traditional pen-and-paper methods. Combining their local knowledge with technology, the surveyors documented 600 mangrove trees, recording species, diameter at breast height (DBH), height, GPS coordinates, and photos of tree barks, leaves, flowers, and fruits. These parameters are key in determining the carbon potential of each tree. The surveyors collectively earned 40 pesos per tree, providing a form of supplemental livelihood. A total of 48,000 pesos was distributed through two wallet accounts managed by field officers, who facilitated cash withdrawals and ensured transparent payment distribution. By integrating local expertise with technology, the project provided exposure to digital tools and actively involved communities in mangrove conservation efforts.

Climatica Foundation: Agroforestry for Climate Resilience in Uganda

This project in Ngora District, Eastern Uganda, aimed to enhance climate resilience and improve agricultural productivity for smallholder farmers. In March-April 2024, Climatica Foundation planted 2,000 trees using agroforestry techniques on local farms. The initiative not only improved soil health, crop yields, and the microclimate but also trained 5 youth farmers in tree mapping technology, allowing them to monitor tree growth and track the planting sites using satellite data. The project is set to continue, with plans to plant 3,500 more trees along road reserves in Odwarat Subcounty.

Help Inhaã-bé Village Access Clean Water

The Inhaã-bé village, a close-knit indigenous community, is facing a severe crisis as two consecutive years of extreme drought have left them struggling with limited access to water, food, and essential supplies. The situation has particularly impacted their children, who must endure a six-hour walk under the scorching sun to reach school. In response, Gainforest and Oya Institute have partnered with the community to launch a fundraising campaign aimed at constructing an artesian well and purchasing a quad bike. These solutions would provide reliable access to clean water and safer transportation, helping the community maintain their traditional way of life while building resilience against the increasing challenges of climate change. The campaign seeks donations and social sharing to support these vital infrastructure improvements that would significantly impact the daily lives of community members.

Bees and Trees: Restoring Land through Agroforestry in Uganda

Bees and Trees motivates smallholder farmers in Uganda to restore degraded land through incentives. They gift beehives and coffee seedlings to farmers. This motivates the farmers to plant coffee shade trees and bee forage species, integrating trees into their farms. So far, 734 trees have been planted and marked on the GainForest Green Globe. The trees contribute to land and habitat restoration, mitigate climate change and prevent landslides. At the same time honey and coffee sales provide additional income to the farmers; while the bees enhance food production and biodiversity through pollination.The social enterprise also purchases coffee grown under agroforestry at premium prices, further motivating farmers to integrate and preserve trees on their farms.

GainForest XPRIZE Rainforest "Most Impact" Winner Edition ✖️🏆

GainForest is co-lead of ETH BioDivX, the XPRIZE Rainforest bonus prize award winner recognized as the “single most impactful approach/technology”. GainForest has worked with over 28 communities to bring crucial biodiversity data onchain, distributing $32K in conservation data income to local communities in 2024 for their role in recording crucial forestation and wildlife information, and co-hosted 13 workshops with local communities across 3 continents. GainForest is fostering global climate action through capacity building with local communities and scientists, maintaining a public database of AI+Environment models. By purchasing this ecocert, you are supporting the teams’ work on the ground to protect the world’s rainforests and incentivize local participation in climate initiatives. This is a special Celo x GainForest celebration edition.