I-Corps: Ecological Asset Tradeoffs

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发技术，使仅有1公顷土地的农民能够参与全球碳和生态系统服务市场，支持他们从传统的、退化的耕作方式(例如，单一作物以及对化肥、除草剂和杀虫剂的依赖)过渡到再生耕作方式(例如，农林业、低耕和自然营养、健康的土壤)，为公司提供机会，通过购买基于实践的生态资产来实现其可持续发展目标。尽管这些类型的生态资产的市场尚未受到考验，但对碳信用和其他生态系统服务的需求正在快速增长。目前的碳信用额度发起成本对于小项目来说过于昂贵，在大多数情况下只在1200公顷以上的土地上才有经济意义。这项技术将释放全球约500万小农(仅有几公顷土地的农民)参与这些市场的能力，扩大供应以满足当前的需求，并在实现气候目标方面取得有意义的进展。这个i-Corps项目基于开发基于实践的方法，使用人类感知(通过智能手机记录的图像和数据)、天空感知(卫星和无人机图像)、遥感(物联网设备和传感器)和声誉感知(社区认证值得信赖的项目)来验证生态状态的变化。该项目正在开发一种可持续和可扩展的模式，使用分散的、数字形式的生态系统服务的衡量、报告和核实来发行基于实践的生态资产。该技术是一个收集、合成和共享来自国际小规模农民的可核实的碳固存数据的平台。这种方法通过利用经常被忽视的小农户和他们随时可用的技术(在他们的手机上和通过卫星成像更负担得起)来证明他们转换为可再生做法，从而降低了成本并增加了气候行动。它还将数据不变地放在链上作为影响证据(比当前方法更低的成本和更透明的)。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of technology to enable farmers with as little as one hectare of land to participate in global carbon and ecosystem services markets supporting their transition from traditional, degrading farming practices (e.g., monocrops and dependence on fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides) to regenerative farming practices (e.g., agroforestry, low-till, and naturally nutritious, healthy soil) by offering companies the opportunity to meet their sustainability goals through the purchase of practice-based ecological assets. Although the market for these types of ecological assets has not yet been tested, the demand for carbon credits and other ecosystem services is growing rapidly. Current carbon credit origination costs are too expensive for small projects, only making financial sense beyond 1200 hectares in most cases. This technology will unlock the ability for the roughly 5 million small-holder farmers (farmers with only a few hectares of land) around the world to participate in these markets, scaling supply to meet the current demand and making meaningful progress toward climate goals.This I-Corps project is based on the development of practice-based methodologies for verifying changes in ecological state using human-sensing (images and data recorded via smartphones), sky-sensing (satellite and drone images), remote-sensing (internet of things devices and sensors) and reputational-sensing (community accreditation of trustworthy projects). This project is developing a sustainable and scalable model for issuing practice-based ecological assets using decentralized, digital forms of measurement, reporting, and verification of ecosystem services. The technology is a platform to collect, synthesize, and share verifiable carbon sequestration data from international small-scale farmers. This approach reduces costs and increases climate action by leveraging often-overlooked small-holder farmers and technology readily available to them (more affordable, on their mobile phones, and via satellite imaging), to prove their conversion to regenerative practices. It also places data immutably on-chain as Proof-of-Impact (lower cost and more transparent than current methods).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.