LogoLogo
Savimbo homepageBuy creditsSpanish
  • Executive summary
  • Front Material
    • Contents
    • Index of figures
    • Index of tables
    • Acronyms and abbreviations
    • Terms and definitions
  • Getting started
  • Introduction
    • The urgency of targeted biodiversity conservation
    • Simplicity, complexity theory, and biodiversity
    • Inclusion of Indigenous Peoples and local communities by design
    • Biodiversity methodology benefits
  • Overall description
    • Objectives
    • Scope
    • Limitations
  • Project description
    • Principles
      • Principles of working with IP
    • Eligibility criteria
      • Land ownership and law
    • Additionality
    • Project boundaries
      • Spatial limits of the BCP
      • Temporal limits of the BCP
      • Grouped projects
    • Implementation plan
      • Measurement approaches
      • Indicator species observations
      • Risks and uncertainty
    • Effective participation
      • Community involvement
      • Capacity for action
      • Financial transparency
      • Safeguards checklist
  • Calculation
    • Unit calculations
    • Area calculations
    • Time calculations
    • Integrity calculations
    • Value calculations
  • Baseline assessment
    • Baseline ecosystem categorization
    • Analysis of agents and drivers of biodiversity loss
    • Baseline biodiversity (optional)
    • Baseline risk of biodiversity loss
    • Indicator species selection
    • Indicator species integrity score
  • SDG contributions
  • Monitoring plan
    • Monitoring report
    • Additional monitoring requirements
  • Authors
  • References
  • Appendices
    • Appendix A: Biodiversity methodologies comparison table
    • Appendix B: Sample legal proof of land control
    • Appendix C: Sample baseline ecosystem categorization
    • Appendix D: Species categorization of richness
    • Appendix E: Sample selection of indicator species
    • Appendix F: Sample indicator-species observations
    • Appendix G: Sample open-source code and calculation
    • Appendix H: Indigenous authors
    • Appendix I: Letters of support
      • Fernando Ayerbe, Ornithology
      • Ned Hording, Biodiversity
      • Olber Llanos, Zoologist
      • Mike McColm, Ethnology
      • Peter Thomas, Anthropologist
      • Jesús Argente, Marine biology
      • Sara Andreotti, Marine Biologist
      • Carolina Romero, Lawyer.
      • Daniel Urbano, Herpetologist
      • Ramesh Boonratana PhD, Primatologist
      • Theodore Schmitt, Conservationists
      • Anja Hutschenreiter, Ecologist and Tropical Conservationist
      • Miguel Chindoy, Indigenous leader
    • Appendix J: Sample uses of biodiversity unit
    • Appendix K: How to do FPIC
    • Appendix L: Independent Expert Panel Checklist
    • Appendix M: How to calculate a biodiversity credit by hand
    • Appendix N: How to calculate home ranges
    • Appendix O: How to calculate integrity scores
  • Document history
  • Disclaimer
Powered by GitBook
LogoLogo

Follow us

  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • LinkedIn

About Savimbo

  • Science
  • Buy credits
  • About us
  • Donate

Indigenous authors

  • Jhony Lopez
  • Fernando Lezama
  • Blog

© 2023 Savimbo Inc. All rights reserved.

On this page

Was this helpful?

Introduction

Introduction to the biodiversity credit methodology

PreviousGetting startedNextThe urgency of targeted biodiversity conservation

Last updated 1 year ago

Was this helpful?

The Savimbo Indicator Species Biodiversity Methodology (ISBM) provides a simplified framework that protects resilient ecosystems. Central to the methodology is direct payment to Indigenous Peoples (IP) and local communities (LC), who are the on-the-ground land guardians.

The methodology outlined in this paper may seem overly simplified to those accustomed to Western ways of thinking about science and measurement. But the aim of our methodology is to implement a solution now. Furthermore, its simplicity is backed by current understandings of complexity theory, ecological science, and Indigenous knowledge. Most importantly, it offers an immediate and scalable response to the urgent problem of biodiversity loss. Immediate action is key. Once a species is extinct, it can never be restored. Disrupted ecosystems take generations to restore. Therefore, this methodology prioritizes immediate action over all else. As earth systems science progresses, we expect to update the methodology.

The United Nations cites biodiversity as humanity’s best defense against climate change. According to IPEBS (), more than a million species are in danger of extinction within the next decade. Furthermore, . Unfortunately, these people are excluded from accessing existing carbon markets due to technical, economic, or socio-cultural factors (;.; ; ).

ISBM is a streamlined methodology, to meet one need: immediate activation of local and Indigenous people on the ground for conservation of primary and/or intact forests and intact biodiversity hotspots. To meet this market need, this methodology can be easily and immediately deployed. ISBM provides an immediate stopgap to preserve the habitats that are in danger today. It also appropriately remunerates Indigenous Peoples and small farmers for their work in preserving biodiversity ().

One of the most comprehensive reports on the economics of biodiversity notes: “From a financial perspective, just as diversity within a portfolio of financial assets reduces risk and uncertainty, so biodiversity increases nature’s resilience to shocks, and thereby reduces risks to the ecosystem services on which we rely… Reduce biodiversity, and the health of ecosystems generally suffers.” (). The review also notes that quantifying the biosphere in economic terms is misleading: if the ecosystem collapses, life on Earth ceases, at which point the entire financial system is useless.

The biosphere isn’t valuable because of its economic value. It’s valuable because, without it, there is no life on Earth.

WWF 2022
greater than 80% of the conserved biodiversity on earth is stewarded by Indigenous peoples
World Wildlife Foundation 2020
National Geographic n.d
Gordon 2022
Andrés Bermúdez Liévano 2023
Buys 2007
Christianson and Center for American Progress 2016