Durante mucho tiempo, los ecosistemas del Santuario de Flora y Fauna Galeras sufrieron  los efectos negativos derivados del crecimiento de la población humana que habita en las zonas rurales/urbanas aledañas. Este hecho afectó considerablemente tanto los bienes y servicios ecosistémicos ofrecidos por el Santuario como la conectividad de éste con otras áreas protegidas (y su zona de influencia). Sin embargo, desde 1998, y con la implementación de la “Política para la Participación Social en la Conservación”, fue posible promover varias iniciativas que contribuyeron a mejorar la representatividad y conectividad ecológica bajo formas de gobernanza compartida. Además, gracias al compromiso con las comunidades campesinas, autoridades locales, propietarios privados y otros actores se ha logrado avanzar en la creación de reservas locales y reservas naturales de la sociedad civil, las cuáles realizan, actualmente,  un aporte invaluable en la conservación de ecosistemas estratégicos.

The intersection of Web 3.0 technologies and conservation presents new opportunities to enhance transparency, accountability, funding mechanisms, and community engagement. As conservation challenges grow more complex, innovative tools like blockchain, DAOs, IoT, gamification, and tokenisation can provide scalable, verifiable, and impactful solutions. This document explores how these technologies align with the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) targets and actions, offering conservation practitioners, policymakers, and innovators a clear roadmap for implementation.

The Navigating Web 3.0 Guide is an interactive and user-friendly resource designed for conservationists to explore how Web 3.0 technologies can support their work. Web 3.0 is used here as an umbrella term for a set of emerging technologies that offer new ways to manage data, funding, and decision-making with greater transparency, accountability, and trust. The guide introduces blockchain, smart contracts, decentralised applications (DApps), decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs), Internet of Things (IoT), gamification, the metaverse, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Crucially, the guide was developed to address common barriers that limit engagement with these technologies. These include a lack of understanding of Web 3.0 concepts, the use of terminology that feels misaligned with conservation priorities, and limited access to tailored, sector-relevant guidance. These barriers often prevent conservation organisations from recognising the practical relevance and value of emerging technologies in their work.

The guide identifies 34 potential routes for strengthening data collection and management, resource allocation and financial sustainability, collaboration and communication, and monitoring and evaluation. These four areas reflect core operational functions for effective conservation action. It also presents eight key considerations for adopting new technologies, along with real-world case studies that showcase how these tools are already being applied. A glossary of terms and a reference list support further exploration and learning.

This tool is designed to help organisations ask the right questions, identify technologies that are most relevant to their specific context, and build confidence in navigating this emerging space. It provides a clear and structured entry point for learning and strategic direction. By focusing attention on the technologies most suited to an organisation’s needs, it enables conservation teams to explore further with purpose and clarity, whether independently or through technical support.

While developed for a wide range of conservation applications, the tool can also support species-focused efforts by helping organisations identify technologies that strengthen field monitoring, increase data transparency, and track conservation actions and results. These same approaches can enhance community engagement, real-time data collection, funding transparency, and education, and support conservation impact at local and landscape levels.

What is Web 3.0?

Web 3.0 is the next evolution of the internet. It shifts control away from centralised platforms and gives individuals, organisations, and communities more choice in how they manage information, funding, and decisions. Rather than relying on a single system or company, Web 3.0 technologies create shared spaces where data can be verified, resources can flow directly to results, and multiple partners can collaborate with greater transparency and trust.

These technologies work together as part of a wider shift. For example, blockchain creates records that cannot be changed, while smart contracts can automatically release funding when conservation targets are met. Tools known as decentralised platforms allow users to share and access data directly, without needing a central authority. Digital certificates, sometimes referred to as NFTs, can represent ownership of outcomes or trace the origin of a product. These systems reduce the need for intermediaries and increase the credibility of conservation work.

Web 3.0 also supports more participatory and inclusive ways of working. New digital governance models, such as DAOs, allow communities to have a say in how resources are used. Devices connected through the Internet of Things (IoT) can send real-time data from the field to a shared platform, improving decision-making across teams. Other tools are designed to bring people into conservation through gamified platforms, education tools, or immersive experiences. When combined, these technologies make it easier to engage partners, verify results, and fund conservation in ways that are trusted, inclusive, and scalable.

Why it matters for conservation

Web 3.0 technologies are creating new ways for conservation organisations to work more transparently, efficiently, and inclusively. These tools support real-time data collection, transparent payments, and automatic checks to confirm that conservation work has taken place. They make it easier to monitor progress across different systems, reduce duplication, and scale projects while still ensuring accountability.

A key benefit of these technologies is that they allow information to be stored and shared in ways that are open and trusted. Conservation actions can be tracked over time, with digital records showing who was involved, when actions took place, and what results were achieved. These records cannot be changed after the fact, which helps build trust between partners. They also reduce the need for intermediaries by linking funding directly to verified results through tools like smart contracts.

Web 3.0 also supports better coordination across organisations and platforms. Open systems make it easier to connect different tools, while shared data standards help everyone work from the same information. Organisations can choose the technologies that best fit their needs and adopt them gradually. At the same time, new forms of digital identity can help recognise the role of local communities and individuals, ensuring their contributions are visible and valued.

Together, these functions support the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework by enabling measurable outcomes, strengthening inclusive governance, and unlocking new models of conservation finance. This includes milestone-based funding, biodiversity credits, and regenerative finance models that tie investment to lasting conservation results.

Supporting species conservation

These technologies are also helping conservationists and communities respond more quickly and effectively to threats facing species. Tools such as sensors and trackers can monitor wildlife in real time, giving teams the information they need to act fast. Blockchain systems and smart contracts can verify when key goals have been met, helping ensure that funding is released only when outcomes are delivered. This improves transparency and helps ensure resources are used effectively.

Web 3.0 also makes it easier for people to work together. Shared platforms allow different groups to access and contribute to the same information, while open-source tools reduce the costs of participation. Digital records and reputation systems can help highlight local leadership, showing clearly who is taking action and where. These tools can also support greater public engagement, through gamified systems, digital storytelling, or immersive learning environments that help people connect with conservation challenges in new ways.

These technologies have the potential to protect species more effectively, strengthen partnerships, and build long-term support for conservation because they can directly contribute to key goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework. This includes targets on data transparency (Target 21), sustainable funding (Target 19), inclusive governance (Target 22), species monitoring (Target 4), equitable benefit sharing (Target 13), and environmental education (Target 16).

Technologies and Case Studies

Blockchain and Smart Contracts

Blockchain acts as a secure, tamper-proof ledger that enables conservationists to track and verify data, funding, and ownership transparently. It helps prevent fraud, ensures funding reaches the right recipients, and secures land tenure records, preventing disputes that could threaten conservation projects. Smart contracts automate payments for conservation milestones, such as verified reforestation, ensuring efficient and accountable funding distribution. These technologies empower local communities by enabling direct, verifiable payments for conservation efforts, reducing reliance on intermediaries. Blockchain is also valuable in tracking supply chains, authenticating sustainably sourced products, and ensuring traceability from origin to consumer, preventing illegal trade and fraud. Additionally, blockchain can be integrated with monitoring and evaluation frameworks, enabling real-time financial tracking tied to measurable conservation outcomes. Tokenisation of real-world assets, such as carbon credits, biodiversity units, and land rights, provides a new funding model, allowing conservation organisations and communities to unlock financial value from natural assets. While blockchain increases transparency, concerns exist about its environmental impact and integration challenges. However, when used effectively, blockchain strengthens trust, ensures sustainable funding, and enhances accountability in conservation finance.

Discover how your organisation could apply blockchain to build trust, improve traceability, and drive positive conservation impact through the Navigating Web 3.0 Guide for conservationists.

Case Study: GainForest uses blockchain and AI to enable sustainable funding streams for Indigenous and local communities leading environmental projects worldwide. Through a marketplace called Ecocertain, communities create ecocerts to showcase their verifiable conservation work and receive funding directly and in real-time without middlemen. To ensure credibility, GainForest develops an AI impact evaluation system that reviews projects through field data, satellite imagery, and community reports. This system connects donors who want to see real results to local environmental efforts, which enables transparent funding while cutting out bureaucracy. GainForest is also co-creating the Nature Guild, a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) that transfers governance to local communities, ensuring nature stewards at the forefront of conservation have final decision-making authority over their own financial flows, knowledge sharing, and resource allocation.

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs)

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations or DAOs enable decentralised governance in conservation by allowing stakeholders to collectively manage funding and decision-making through blockchain-based voting. These organisations improve transparency and reduce administrative bottlenecks, ensuring resources are distributed fairly. By giving local communities a direct voice in conservation decisions, DAOs empower those closest to conservation challenges, ensuring local knowledge guides resource management. They also enhance financial sustainability by enabling self-sustaining funding pools that support long-term conservation efforts without reliance on external donors. DAOs also support collaboration and communication by creating transparent decision-making structures that include multiple stakeholders, ensuring collective accountability. Additionally, tokenised assets within DAOs allow local communities to hold direct stakes in conservation projects, ensuring that they benefit financially from biodiversity conservation and sustainable land management. However, challenges include ensuring broad participation, preventing governance manipulation, maintaining efficiency in decision-making, and addressing legal recognition of DAOs as formal entities within regulatory frameworks. When structured well, DAOs provide an equitable way to manage conservation resources while building trust and accountability.

Discover how your organisation could explore decentralised governance models such as DAOs to support inclusive decision-making and drive positive conservation impact through the Navigating Web 3.0 Guide for conservationists.

Case Study: The Regen Network is governed by a DAO that enables community-led decision-making on ecological asset issuance and land restoration initiatives. Token holders participate in governance, ensuring that conservation funding and carbon credit systems remain transparent, accountable, and science-driven. By using blockchain, Regen Network provides a decentralised marketplace where land stewards can validate and trade ecological credits, fostering financial sustainability for conservation. This governance model reduces reliance on centralised authorities, empowering local communities to take direct action in managing and benefiting from conservation efforts. Regen Network exemplifies how DAOs can create an equitable and verifiable system for environmental stewardship.

Decentralised Applications (DApps)

Decentralised Applications or DApps operate on blockchain networks without central control, providing secure, transparent platforms for conservation initiatives. They can facilitate peer-to-peer carbon credit trading, biodiversity data management, and direct donor-to-project transactions, helping measure and verify conservation impact. By eliminating intermediaries, DApps ensure funds and resources reach intended recipients efficiently and transparently. These applications also enhance decentralised conservation reporting, allowing local communities, scientists, and funders to collectively validate data on biodiversity changes and conservation outcomes. Additionally, DApps improve resource allocation and financial management by enabling conservation organisations to track grants, disbursements, and expenditures in real time, increasing accountability and reducing waste. However, their success depends on accessibility, blockchain literacy, and a user-friendly design. When tailored to conservation needs, DApps enhance trust, accountability, and effective funding distribution.

Discover how your organisation could explore decentralised applications to improve collaboration, data sharing, and positive conservation impact through the Navigating Web 3.0 Guide for conservationists.

Case Study: Open Forest Protocol (OFP) is a decentralised platform designed to increase the transparency, efficiency, and accessibility of reforestation efforts worldwide. Built on the NEAR blockchain, OFP enables local communities and project developers to collect standardised forest data using mobile applications, which is then independently verified through a broad and expanding peer review network of forest-technology companies and practitioners and permanently recorded on-chain. This model enhances trust in reforestation outcomes and promotes greater inclusion in carbon finance, supporting long-term stewardship and livelihood opportunities. While OFP’s current focus is on reforestation under its Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation (ARR) methodology, the platform’s open architecture offers a blueprint for how decentralised applications can contribute to broader biodiversity goals. By lowering technical and financial barriers, embedding transparency into environmental monitoring, and centring community governance, OFP demonstrates how emerging technologies can support enabling conditions for species recovery and ecosystem restoration.

Gamification

Gamification integrates rewards, challenges, and progress tracking to encourage conservation participation. Gamification is enhanced by using blockchain-based tokens, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and decentralised finance models to verify and reward contributions, such as biodiversity monitoring or citizen science efforts. Tokenisation allows for real-world conservation incentives, such as impact-based rewards. Gamification leverages core principles of immersion, education, and engagement to build communities around conservation efforts. By incorporating interactive learning tools, fun challenges, and game-based storytelling, gamification can enhance environmental education and encourage sustained participation. Immersive experiences, such as conservation-themed digital games and virtual rewards, help connect users emotionally to conservation challenges. This approach ensures that conservation actions feel rewarding while fostering long-term behavioural change. However, gamification must be designed to encourage real-world impact rather than superficial participation. When structured effectively, it can increase engagement, strengthen conservation communities, and create measurable conservation impact.

Discover how your organisation could use gamified tools to engage new audiences, inspire action, and drive positive conservation impact through the Navigating Web 3.0 Guide for conservationists.

Case Study: FathomVerse is a mobile game designed to inspire a new wave of ocean explorers. It invites players to interact with real underwater imagery while contributing to science. The ocean is the largest habitable ecosystem on the planet, yet up to 60% of its species remain undocumented. FathomVerse helps address this gap by turning mobile gameplay into meaningful scientific data. With immersive visuals, research-based mini-games, and a growing global player community, the game draws users into the world of ocean science. It is especially focused on reaching learners from high school age and above, offering a simple and engaging way to learn about marine biodiversity and contribute to real-world research.

Since launching in 2024, FathomVerse has engaged more than 30,000 players across 173 countries and produced over 15 million annotations. The most recent version introduces new features that enhance participation, strengthen community connection, and expand scientific value. Players classify animals, draw bounding boxes, and tag behaviours, helping researchers train artificial intelligence models that improve biodiversity monitoring. With each interaction, users build skills, explore new knowledge, and contribute to a growing body of data that supports ocean conservation. FathomVerse shows how education, participation, and technology can come together to support species discovery and long-term stewardship of marine ecosystems.

Metaverse

The metaverse provides immersive environments for conservation awareness, education, and collaboration. Virtual experiences allow users to explore ecosystems, track migrations, and understand environmental issues in an engaging way. These tools can be used for training, stakeholder engagement, and fundraising, helping conservationists reach a wider audience. Conservationists can also develop virtual twins of protected areas to model ecosystem changes, test interventions, and simulate different conservation scenarios before applying them in the real world. Virtual collaborations create opportunities for cross-border conservation efforts, allowing diverse stakeholders to engage in shared initiatives despite geographical barriers. The metaverse also provides opportunities for financial sustainability through digital assets, sponsorships, and gamification, allowing conservation organisations to generate revenue while fostering engagement. Blockchain integration ensures traceability and accountability, creating new funding mechanisms that support long-term conservation efforts. However, barriers such as accessibility and the energy consumption of virtual platforms need consideration. When used strategically, the metaverse can inspire empathy and drive international support for conservation efforts.

Discover how your organisation could explore immersive platforms like the metaverse to support education, training, and positive conservation impact through the Navigating Web 3.0 Guide for conservationists.

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

Non-fungible tokens, NFTs function as digital certificates of ownership recorded on a blockchain. In conservation, they verify the authenticity of scientific records, conservation impact reports, and land ownership documents. Unlike traditional collectibles, NFTs can also be dynamic, updating with real-world conservation progress, such as forest regrowth. By integrating smart contracts, NFTs ensure transparent transactions and fund allocation, helping conservationists create sustainable income streams. NFTs also allow for the tokenisation of real-world conservation assets, such as protected land, carbon credits, or species adoptions, providing new financial mechanisms for long-term funding. Some conservation-focused NFTs incorporate royalty mechanisms, ensuring a percentage of resales continues to fund conservation initiatives. However, concerns exist about speculation and environmental impact, making it essential to use sustainable blockchain solutions and focus on NFTs as verification tools rather than speculative assets. By framing NFTs as digital certification tools, they can help build trust, support sustainable funding, and create transparent conservation impact measurement systems.

Discover how your organisation could apply NFTs and digital certificates to verify outcomes, trace contributions, and drive positive conservation impact through the Navigating Web 3.0 Guide for conservationists.

Internet of Things (IoT)

Internet of Things (IoT) devices, such as GPS trackers and environmental sensors, provide real-time conservation data, helping monitor wildlife movements, habitat conditions, and poaching threats. These tools improve conservation monitoring and evaluation by ensuring accurate, tamper-proof data collection. When combined with blockchain, IoT ensures data integrity and traceability, reducing the risk of tampering and increasing accountability. IoT devices combined with AI can enhance predictive analytics, enabling conservationists to anticipate poaching risks, habitat degradation, and climate threats based on real-time sensor data. This strengthens conservation planning and enforcement while supporting impact measurement. Additionally, IoT devices can enhance data collection and management by integrating diverse environmental metrics into unified conservation databases, providing a more holistic view of ecosystem health. However, challenges include data security, connectivity in remote areas, and ethical considerations in data collection. Used effectively, IoT strengthens conservation monitoring, improves collaborations, and ensures transparent environmental data reporting.

Discover how your organisation could use connected devices and real-time data systems to strengthen monitoring and drive positive conservation impact through the Navigating Web 3.0 Guide for conservationists.

Case Study: Connected Conservation Foundation’s initiative has deployed Africa’s largest IoT-powered network to support wildlife protection and community-led conservation across 3 million hectares in Kenya’s Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT). The system utilises LoRaWAN gateways, high-bandwidth communications, and 600+ IoT sensors to enable real-time monitoring across NRT’s 22 community-led conservancies and four private reserves. These tools help rangers track endangered species, prevent poaching, and regulate tourism and grazing. By integrating technology with local stewardship, the network strengthens community collaboration, ecosystem resilience, and sustainable conservation management. This initiative is a collaboration between Northern Rangelands Trust, Cisco, Actility, Dimension Data, 51 Degrees, EarthRanger, INL, and the European Union.

Alignment of Web 3.0 Technologies with GBF Targets and GSAP Actions

GBF Target 1: Plan and Manage All Areas to Reduce Biodiversity Loss

• Action 1.1: Develop and implement participatory, integrated, and biodiversity-inclusive spatial planning processes.
  • Blockchain
    • Ensures transparent and tamper-proof records of land use and spatial plans, allowing stakeholders to track conservation commitments and prevent land disputes.
  • Metaverse
    • Enables virtual simulations of biodiversity planning scenarios, helping stakeholders visualise and refine conservation strategies before implementation.
  • Action 1.2: Implement awareness-raising campaigns to promote biodiversity-inclusive spatial planning.Gamification
    • Engages the public in conservation planning through interactive storytelling, rewards, and community participation tools.
  • Metaverse
    • Provides immersive education experiences to demonstrate the impact of land-use decisions on biodiversity.

GBF Target 4: Halt Species Extinction, Protect Genetic Diversity, and Manage Human-Wildlife Conflicts

• Action 4.1: Implement monitoring systems to track species populations and health.
  • IoT
    • Uses sensor networks and real-time monitoring to track species movements, detect poaching threats, and assess population health.
    • LoRaWAN networks enable localised, low-power IoT connectivity, allowing conservationists to monitor remote habitats cost-effectively.
  • Blockchain
    • Provides a verifiable ledger of biodiversity data, ensuring data integrity and enabling open access for conservation research.
  • Blockchain & DApps
    • Facilitates payments for ecosystem services, such as human-wildlife conflict mitigation activities, through transparent smart contract mechanisms. A rewards-based system can incentivise conservation-friendly practices by compensating local communities for successful coexistence strategies.

GBF Target 5: Ensure Sustainable, Safe, and Legal Harvesting and Trade of Wild Species

• Action 5.1: Strengthen monitoring and compliance mechanisms to prevent illegal wildlife trade.
  • Blockchain, Smart Contracts & IoT
    • Combining blockchain, smart contracts, and IoT ensures sustainable harvesting practices by enabling real-time monitoring, compliance automation, and transparent trade records. Blockchain provides immutable records of wild species harvesting and trade, ensuring legality and sustainability. Smart contracts automate compliance checks and enforce sustainable quotas through transparent digital agreements. IoT devices capture real-time environmental and species data, enabling adaptive management and informed decision-making to maintain ecological balance.

GBF Target 6: Reduce the Introduction of Invasive Alien Species by 50% and Minimise Their Impact

• Action 6.1: Implement early detection and rapid response systems for invasive species.
  • IoT & Blockchain
    • Uses IoT devices for early detection of invasive species, with data recorded on a blockchain for real-time monitoring and coordinated response.

GBF Target 8: Minimise the Impact of Climate Change on Biodiversity

• Action 8.1: Enhance voluntary carbon markets to support climate adaptation and biodiversity conservation.
  • Blockchain
    • Ensures transparency in carbon credit and biodiversity net gain credit trading (including water, biodiversity, and ecosystems) by verifying transactions and preventing double counting.
  • DApps
    • Facilitates decentralised carbon credit and biodiversity net gain credit trading, ensuring equitable participation and direct transactions between buyers and conservation projects.
  • Metaverse
    • Runs simulations and digital twins to better manage resources, understand global systems, and assess their impact. This technology engages a large, diverse audience through virtual and immersive experiences, building knowledge and fostering a stronger connection to climate-related issues.

GBF Target 9: Manage Wild Species Sustainably to Benefit People

• Action 9.1: Promote sustainable management practices for wild species to support local communities.
  • DAOs
    • Facilitates transparent governance, enabling local communities to have a direct voice in decision-making and ensuring equitable management of wild species.
  • Gamification & Metaverse
    • Builds interactive programs to engage local communities, fostering excitement and deeper connections with nature while promoting conservation awareness.
    • Encourages grassroots communities to take action through immersive experiences and interactive storytelling.
  • Tokenised Reward Systems
    • Integrates reward-based incentives through DAOs or credit-based systems, ensuring communities receive fair compensation for their conservation efforts and contributions.
  • Decentralised Platforms
    • Facilitates community-based management of wild species, ensuring equitable benefit-sharing and data transparency.

GBF Target 10: Enhance Biodiversity and Sustainability in Agriculture, Aquaculture, Fisheries, and Forestry

• Action 10.1: Strengthen sustainability practices in agricultural and fisheries supply chains.
  • Blockchain
    • Ensures supply chain transparency, tracing products from farm to consumer to verify sustainable sourcing.

GBF Target 11: Restore, Maintain, and Enhance Nature’s Contributions to People

• Action 11.1: Develop incentive-based approaches to restore and maintain ecosystem services.
  • Gamification & Metaverse
    • Encourages people to engage with the natural world through immersive experiences, interactive education programs, and digital storytelling.
    • Fosters grassroots conservation communities, inspiring collective action and local environmental stewardship.
    • Enables reward-based systems through DAOs or credit-based mechanisms, ensuring individuals and communities are incentivised for positive conservation actions.
  • Tokenisation of Ecosystem Services
    • Develops tokenised systems to value and trade ecosystem services, promoting ecosystem restoration and conservation efforts.

GBF Target 12: Enhance Green Spaces and Urban Planning for Human Well-Being and Biodiversity

• Action 12.1: Manage green and blue spaces to maximise their value for species and connectivity.
  • Metaverse
    • Provides virtual models for urban planners to assess the impact of green infrastructure on biodiversity.
  • IoT
    • Monitors environmental conditions in urban ecosystems, tracking air quality, soil health, and species interactions. Integrates real-time monitoring with AI-driven data analysis and predictive models to assess urban biodiversity trends, identify risks, and optimise conservation efforts.

GBF Target 13: Increase the Sharing of Benefits from Genetic Resources, Digital Sequence Information, and Traditional Knowledge

• Action 13.1: Ensure fair and equitable benefit-sharing of genetic resources and traditional knowledge.
  • Metaverse
    • Traditional knowledge can be shared and brought to life through immersive experiences, education programs, and community-building initiatives that engage wide audiences.
  • Blockchain
    • Ensures transparent and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge.

GBF Target 14: Integrate Biodiversity in Decision-Making at Every Level

• Action 14.1: Incorporate species values into whole-government policy and national accounting systems.
  • Blockchain
    • Records and tracks biodiversity metrics, ensuring transparent and immutable data integration into national biodiversity policies. Supports tokenisation of real-world assets, enabling biodiversity credit payments to be verified through blockchain for transparent financial transactions.
  • DApps
    • Facilitates decentralised biodiversity reporting, ensuring real-time accessibility of conservation data and integrating tokenised assets into national conservation finance mechanisms.
  • Action 14.2: Strengthen sustainability standards and corporate accountability for biodiversity impact.
    • Blockchain
      • Enables full supply chain traceability, ensuring products are sustainably sourced and preventing illegal exploitation of natural resources.
    • Smart Contracts
      • Automates fair payments to communities engaged in conservation efforts, ensuring transparency and preventing financial leakages.
    • Tokenisation
      • Creates digital proof of biodiversity-positive supply chains, allowing businesses to verify and showcase their sustainability commitments.

GBF Target 15: Businesses Assess, Disclose, and Reduce Biodiversity-Related Risks and Negative Impacts

• Action 15.1: Require businesses to disclose and mitigate their biodiversity impacts.
  • Blockchain for ESG Reporting
    • Provides immutable and transparent tracking of corporate biodiversity impacts, enabling businesses to verify their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments.

GBF Target 16: Enable Sustainable Consumption Choices to Reduce Waste and Overconsumption

• Action 16.1: Promote consumer awareness and responsible consumption choices.
  • Gamification & Metaverse
    • Develops interactive education programs to engage consumers, making sustainable consumption choices more accessible and rewarding.
    • Encourages community-building through immersive storytelling, fostering collective action toward biodiversity-friendly consumption habits.
    • Uses gamified incentives and virtual experiences to create lasting behaviour change and promote conscious consumerism.
  • DApps for Consumer Awareness
    • Develops decentralised applications that inform consumers about the biodiversity impacts of products, promoting sustainable consumption behaviours. Integrates reward-based systems that incentivise individuals who undertake positive conservation activities, ensuring ongoing engagement and impact.

GBF Target 19: Mobilise $200 Billion per Year for Biodiversity from All Sources, Including $30 Billion Through International Finance

• Action 19.1: Develop and implement financial mechanisms to support biodiversity conservation.
  • NFTs
    • Generates funding through conservation-linked digital assets, with resale royalties providing sustained financial support for projects.
  • Blockchain
    • Ensures transparent tracking of conservation funding, direct payments to local conservation initiatives, and tokenisation of real-world assets for biodiversity financing. Empowers unbanked communities by enabling direct digital payments for conservation work, verified through blockchain-based land tenure systems.
  • DAOs
    • Facilitates community-led funding pools and transparent financial governance, ensuring equitable and sustainable conservation financing through decentralised mechanisms.
  • DApps
    • Supports direct peer-to-peer conservation financing by enabling transparent, automated, and trustless transactions for biodiversity protection.
  • eDNA & Blockchain Verification
    • Enhances biodiversity credit verification by using environmental DNA (eDNA) to authenticate conservation impact on-chain, ensuring credibility for investors and regulatory bodies.
  • Action 19.2: Unlock corporate and investment funding through transparent sustainability mechanisms.
    • Blockchain & Smart Contracts
      • Provide immutable proof of conservation efforts, ensuring corporate ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) funds are directed to verified projects.
    • Tokenised Environmental Credits
      • Allow investors to engage in conservation finance through tradeable digital credits, including carbon credits, biodiversity net gain credits, and emerging credit systems for water and ecosystem services. These credits generate sustainable funding flows and enhance accountability in conservation finance.
    • DApps & DAOs
      • Enable decentralised governance models that hold corporate contributions accountable, ensuring transparent and impact-driven investment.

GBF Target 20: Strengthen Capacity Building for Biodiversity Conservation

• Action 20.1: Support innovation in technology and knowledge-sharing to improve conservation outcomes.
  • Metaverse
    • Provides virtual training environments for conservationists, enhancing accessibility to knowledge-sharing tools.
  • DAOs
    • Facilitates decentralised decision-making and funding mechanisms to support conservation innovation and collaborative research.

GBF Target 21: Ensure That Knowledge is Available and Accessible to Guide Biodiversity Action

• Action 21.1: Promote open access to biodiversity data and information.
  • DApps
    • Enables decentralised data sharing, ensuring open access to biodiversity information without reliance on central authorities.
  • Blockchain
    • Ensures data integrity and traceability, preventing misinformation and ensuring credibility in biodiversity data repositories.

GBF Target 22: Ensure Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice and Information Related to Biodiversity for All

• Action 22.1: Ensure the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples and local communities in decision-making related to biodiversity.
  • DAOs
    • Empowers communities by enabling decentralised governance, ensuring equitable decision-making processes for conservation initiatives.
  • Blockchain
    • Provides a secure record of indigenous land rights and conservation agreements, preventing disputes and ensuring transparency. Facilitates digital land verification, allowing unbanked communities to securely register land ownership and access conservation incentives.

Conclusion

Web 3.0 technologies have the potential to transform conservation efforts by improving financial transparency, data accessibility, governance, and community engagement. By leveraging blockchain for trust, IoT for real-time monitoring, DAOs for decentralised decision-making, and tokenisation for funding mechanisms, conservation organisations can create scalable, impact-driven solutions. However, successful integration requires collaboration between conservationists, technologists, and policymakers to ensure that these tools are applied effectively and ethically.

This document serves as a reference for those seeking to integrate Web 3.0 solutions into biodiversity strategies and build a more transparent, inclusive, and financially sustainable future for conservation.

The Eco-Corridor Fund for the Caucasus (ECF) is a funding instrument supporting community-based biodiversity conservation in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Eco-corridors are created by connecting various classifications of parks and protected areas across all three countries. ECF uses contractual nature conservation agreements and a clear set of processes to fund ecologically sustainable land use in specific regions and selected communities in Georgia. The result is an interconnected mosaic of managed and unmanaged habitats under various land categories and classifications. These community-managed landscapes protect, connect and support healthy native ecosystems while ensuring the socio-economic status of the communities involved is not harmed or diminish, but in many cases is improved. ECF is a not-for profit, practical conservation organization funded by KfW Development Bank and WWF Germany.

Tropical tree-dwelling mammals such as monkeys, kinkajous and opossums depend on complex treetop highways to get to food, potential mates and avoid predators on the ground. In one of the largest-ever canopy-based camera-trapping studies to date, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute scientists and partners found that when a pipeline clearing in Peru threatened those highways, leaving natural bridges, or connecting branches, for arboreal species really reduced the severity of that impact.

“Here we partnered with industry to identify a problem, implemented a proposed solution and used an innovative camera trapping technique to test the solution. The results plainly and powerfully show the effectiveness of a simple way to reduce impacts of human activity on biodiversity—a conservation biologist’s dream,” described one of the researchers. These results are now in the process of being incorporated into Peruvian legislation.

Our solution is connecting rural unemployed youth in natural forest areas to production of organic honey and sustainable markets.  The honey sector has the highest potential to achieve transformation and growth across all categories of rural households. Beekeeping does not require fertile land, a large area, much initial capital. This makes the sector attractive for unemployed youth with limited resources. However, despite its potential for the development of rural economy, the sector faces a number of problems. We are working with rural unemployed youth, supporting them to have well organized apiary sites near to the forest, establishing a learning and collection center in a youth village with a strong coaching system. The collection center helps the youth to supply their product easily without any transportation. In addition, they will have premium prices from sales of organic honey. Every youth beekeepers will plant trees and conserve the existing natural forest.

The Eco-Corridor Fund for the Caucasus (ECF) is a funding instrument supporting community-based biodiversity conservation in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Eco-corridors are created by connecting various classifications of parks and protected areas across all three countries. ECF uses contractual nature conservation agreements and a clear set of processes to fund ecologically sustainable land use in specific regions and selected communities in Armenia. The result is an interconnected mosaic of managed and unmanaged habitats under various land categories and classifications. These community-managed landscapes protect, connect and support healthy native ecosystems while ensuring the socio-economic status of the communities involved is not harmed or diminish, and in many cases is improved. ECF is a not-for profit, practical conservation organization funded by KfW Development Bank and WWF Germany.

Agriculture expansion and human settlement in the Kilombero valley of Southern Tanzania has severed wildlife corridors connecting the World Heritage site of Selous Game Reserve with the Udzungwa Mountains. As a result people and wildlife are increasingly in conflict over access to resources. Focusing on an area at the boundary of the Kilombero Nature Reserve, the solution involves a sequential process of working with the villagers, local authorities and nature reserve to plan for human activities and wildlife needs at a landscape scale, helping farmers improve their production and market access for cocoa through better tree stock and links to private sector operators, and mobilising village environment committees to reforest degraded areas using the ROAM methodology. The aim is to create a cycle of sustained interventions that are internally incentivised through market driven mechanisms and good governance. The approach is being shared through SAGCOT and Nane Nane agriculture fair. 

Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai faces immense external and internal pressures. Since the park is surrounded on three sides by the developed city, it faces the dangers of an isolated, shrinking habitat. The diverse array of flora and fauna within are subsequently threatened. As a long-term conservation strategy, advocates have lobbied to enhance connections between the park and wilderness areas to its north.

This project is improving the ecological connectivity between 2 protected areas in Sabah, Malaysia: Kinabalu Park (World Heritage site) and Crocker Range Biosphere reserve. It addresses the issue of forest fragmentation due to uncontrolled deforestation and expansion of agricultural activities by establishment of several community conserved areas (CCAs) in between both parks, habitat restoration, improving agriculture production and creating alternative incomes.

La carencia de un convenio de desarrollo fronterizo y la gran diversidad de actores son parte de los retos de gobernanza de la cuenca del Río Goascorán (2.345 km2), compartida entre Honduras y El Salvador. Para adaptarse ahí al cambio climático, se necesita de una gobernanza multidimensional (multinivel y multisectorial), participativa, flexible y ecosistémica, es decir, que integre a todos los actores de la cuenca, evalúe periódicamente las estrategias y medidas de adaptación implementadas, y gestione los servicios ecosistémicos prioritarios. En esta solución se facilitó la coordinación transfronteriza, instaurando Mesas Técnicas Ambientales (El Salv.) y promoviendo su acercamiento al Consejo de Cuenca del Río Goascorán (Hond.). A nivel local, se formaron los Consejos de Microcuenca del Río Lituy (Hond.) y Río Honduritas (El Salv.), creando capacidades mediante el “aprender haciendo”. Estas experiencias permitieron escalar acciones de adaptación y reforzar la gobernanza de la cuenca.

As the leading global body addressing cetacean science, conservation and management, the IWC has the capacity to play a significant role in global efforts to address bycatch and in 2016, endorsed a new Bycatch Mitigation Initiative (BMI). In collaboration with other organisations, national governments and fishing communities, this aims to develop, assess and promote effective bycatch prevention and mitigation measures world-wide.

The initiative is currently focused on addressing gillnet bycatch in small-scale fisheries, although some work continues on bycatch in other gears and fisheries.

The concepts of collaboration and co-ordination underpin the BMI.  Bycatch is an issue that needs to be tackled on several different scales, from fishing communities to national governments and intergovernmental fishery bodies.

The BMI works closely with the Global Whale Entanglement Response Network (GWERN), a pioneering initiative which actively addresses welfare, conservation and human safety impacts of large whale entanglement in fishing gear and marine debris.

WWF’s global site-based conservation programs cover vast areas of countries and continents and, via its landscape approach, invariably has large programs that transcend national boundaries be it for species conservation, forest and habitat protection, or to maintain environmental f lows and sustainable use. Past global studies have looked at guidelines and criteria for successful transboundary conservation programs, but a review of practical lessons from the field is lacking. This report reflects on the strengths and challenges of transboundary conservation programs, illustrated by a compilation of lessons from over two decades of work on the ground, and builds on previous knowledge, fills some knowledge gaps, and draws on firsthand practitioners’ experiences from 16 of WWF’s transboundary landscapes across Europe, Africa, Central America and Asia.

As an environmental treaty of the United Nations, CMS provides a global platform for the conservation and sustainable use of migratory animals and their habitats. CMS brings together the States through which migratory animals pass, the Range States, and lays the legal foundation for internationally coordinated conservation measures throughout a migratory range.

As the only global convention specializing in the conservation of migratory species, their habitats and migration routes, CMS complements and co-operates with a number of other international organizations, NGOs and partners in the media as well as in the corporate sector.

Migratory species threatened with extinction are listed on Appendix I of the Convention. CMS Parties strive towards strictly protecting these animals, conserving or restoring the places where they live, mitigating obstacles to migration and controlling other factors that might endanger them. Besides establishing obligations for each State joining the Convention, CMS promotes concerted action among the Range States of many of these species.

Migratory species that need or would significantly benefit from international co-operation are listed in Appendix II of the Convention. For this reason, the Convention encourages the Range States to conclude global or regional agreements.

In this respect, CMS acts as a framework Convention. The agreements may range from legally binding treaties (called Agreements) to less formal instruments, such as Memoranda of Understanding, and can be adapted to the requirements of particular regions. The development of models tailored according to the conservation needs throughout the migratory range is a unique capacity to CMS.

The IWC Southern Ocean Research Partnership (IWC-SORP) was established in 2009 as an integrated, collaborative consortium for cetacean research, which aims to maximise conservation-orientated outcomes for Southern Ocean cetaceans through an understanding of the post-exploitation status, health, dynamics and environmental linkages of their populations, and the threats they face.

Task Teams aim to provide rapid and targeted responses to situations where significant and swift population decline is happening, and a real threat of extinction exists at either global or individual population level.

Eradication of the neophyte Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) was a successful joint project of two bordering national parks Thayatal (AT) and Podyjí (CZ) that led to a significant decrease of Himalayan balsam plants in the river valley and return of native plants. The most important success factors were the common approach to river valley management, access to both river banks by Czech staff, change in management of river valley meadows, and ongoing joint monitoring in the river valley.

Europe’s Wadden Sea (DK, DE, NL) and Mauritania’s National Park Banc d´Arguin (PNBA) — two World Heritage properties linked through the migratory birds on the African Eurasian Flyway, for which they serve as important wintering and stop over areas — signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2014 to protect the migratory birds. Since, there have been bilateral visits of managers and scientists, a joint action plan and cooperation in bird monitoring. More, PNBA joint the Wadden Sea Flyway Initiative, launched to strengthen waterbird conservation and monitoring along the East Atlantic flyway.

The project used a participatory decision-making process to develop a transboundary bear management plan for a nature park in Italy (Prealpi Giulie) and an adjacent national park in Slovenia (Triglav). The project led to a joint agreement for the allocation of resources (money and staff time) toward satisfying all stakeholders concerned about brown bears in the Transboundary Julian Alps Ecoregion. Some of the actions will be implemented through jointly funded park projects from 2017-2026.

Despite their great potential and strategic importance the watersheds of the Tacaná volcano are vulnerable both ecologically and politically. IUCN (through the Water and Nature Initiative, WANI) and partners therefore set up a demonstration project in these watersheds, which combined pilot livelihood projects (water, soil and environmental conservation) and bottom-up integrated governance of water resources management (freshwater ecosystem management). 

The main aims were to create a lasting network between protected areas to achieve a better understanding of protected areas among locals and visitors, and to create awareness of the parks’ value for quality of life and local economy in West Pannonia at the border between Austria and Hungary. Intending the creation of a transboundary gateway to a sustainable nature experience, the project provides the development of tourism offers supporting nature while contributing to regional development.

Starting from their territorial contiguity, the common natural and cultural heritage, the two parks have created a unique protected area of about 1000 km² across the F/I border. A long partnership process, at first generated by the need of common wildlife management, lead then to sustainable development and common visual identity. Thanks to more and more integrated projects, they developed a shared vision, and have finally created a common juridical structure following a new EU regulation: EGTC.

EUROPARC’s Transboundary (TB) Parks Programme is a special verification and certification system that aims to promote and facilitate transboundary cooperation between European Protected Areas (PAs). It includes: unique EUROPARC Basic Standards for TB cooperation; verification process carried out by external verifiers; formal certification as “EUROPARC Transboundary Area” if the application is successful, and renewal of the Certificate every five years.
23 PAs in 13 countries are now certified.

The project was carried out from 2006-2008 in the transboundary protected area called Pasvik-Inari Trilateral Park (Finland, Norway, Russia) that focused on promoting nature protection and sustainable nature tourism in the area by developing: 1) joint methods for nature monitoring; 2) joint guidelines for sustainable nature tourism; 3) joint action plan; and 4) EUROPARC transboundary park certification.

Several factors contributed to the consolidation of the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve in Ecuador. One of them was the empowerment of indigenous organizations to establish “Use and Management Agreements” with the State. Besides that, the government defined policies for the conservation of protected areas, such as the Socio Bosque Program, the National Environment Fund, and investments in sustainable tourism. Finally, the availability of funds and technical assistance from international cooperation was key to support an initiative integration across borders (Colombia–Ecuador–Peru).

Regional ocean governance in the Western Indian Ocean requires active collaboration among institutions, countries, and stakeholders for a healthy and sustainable ocean. Regional leaders acknowledge the need for improved cross-sectoral cooperation to tackle the triple planetary crisis. Nairobi Convention and Partners support the co-development of a regional ocean governance strategy (ROGS), in response to the Africa Ministerial Conference on Environment and the Nairobi Convention Conference of Parties. Through Nairobi Convention Focal Points, a ROGS Task Force with representatives from Convention Parties, the African Union and other Regional Economic Communities, the Indian Ocean Commission, private sector, civil society, and regional experts leads the co-design of technical dialogues that shape the ROGS by fostering consensus on priority actions and proposing institutional and resourcing arrangements. A Support Team hosted by the Convention made up of experts from WIOMSA, GIZ, and CLI supports the Task Force.