The smaller trees, which elephants prefer to eat, have lower wood density, which is linked to a faster growth rate and higher mortality. The elephants' behaviour promotes the growth of slower growing trees that store more carbon in their trunks, says Berzaghi. The carbon storage capacity of trees mainly depends on their volume and wood density, although denser wood takes more resources and time to build, he adds.
Using the findings from Berzaghi's 2019 study, Chami valued the carbon capture services of each forest elephant at $1.75m (£1.33m), with the total value of the herd, restored to its former size of 1.2 million, worth an estimated $36bn (£27.5bn).
Others are taking the concept of an elephant's monetary value a step further. The startup Rebalance Earth aims to use Berzaghi's scientific findings and Chami's valuation to sell elephants' carbon capture potential to companies around the world. Building on the carbon offsetting market, which enables companies to offset their emissions by paying for tree planting or renewable energy projects elsewhere, Rebalance Earth has started selling ecosystem tokens which represent the carbon captured by each elephant. The entire transaction will be managed and monitored via private blockchain technology.
Aaarrggh FFS, why ?
Al Saqqaf argues that the "beauty" of a blockchain system is that each party has exactly the same access to information as any other. "As our platform expands we will be building an independent governance body and will be reviewing their role to verify transactions," he adds.
That... makes absolutely no sense. None at all. If you want people to give you money to save the elephants, use a damn credit card. You've just replaced one very simple (I have elephants, you give me money) with a very complicated one (I have elephants, you give bitcoin and I use that to generate a non-fungible token with which you can... err... be extra confident that I have elephants.... yeah, soooper useful !)
#Nature
#NFT
#Blockchain
#YetAnotherExampleOfPointlessTechnologiesThatShouldJustGoAwayAlreadyAndLetsConcentateOnTheDamnElephants
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220414-how-africas-forest-elephants-help-fight-climate-change
