Project: Ecosystem Vision Diagrams (Restoring & Managing Nature)

Team Members: 

Philip Bubb, Project Lead

Summary: 

The lands that cities depend on for food, water and recreation also need to capture carbon and be resilient to climate change. This project will establish Ecosystem Vision Diagrams (EVDs) to guide land managers and city people in achieving these multiple aims. An EVD is a one-page picture of the status and functioning of the land as an ecological system. EVDs help understand:

a) How an area has been degraded

b) What pieces and processes of the ecosystem need to be restored for multiple objectives

c) How to work in harmony with ecosystem processes

d) Help measure and communicate goals and progress.

Our long-term vision is for online EVDs for all lands, showing their past and current ecosystem condition, and societally agreed upon goals for how we want our environment to be as an ecosystem. EVDs can be a key tool for the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030.

Sustainable Development Goals:

  • Life on Land

  • Sustainable Cities and Communities

Skills & Resources Needed:

Graphic design to make Ecosystem Vision Diagrams attractive and effective.

Educational design for teaching/learning new concepts and tools.

Product design, testing, and marketing.

Not-for-profit business model development.

I need funding more team to test and develop EVDs with users. I have users in the Peru Ministry of Environment and I can find others. I need to get a team with graphic designers, adult learning expertise, and product development. And advice on developing a not-for-profit business model.

Post-Capsule Goals:

  • Incubator Program

  • Accelerator Program

Project Motivation:

Currently land is being degraded due to farming or otherwise ignorant practices. Projects for ecosystem restoration and ‘nature-based solutions’ to climate change are not based on a location-specific understanding of ecosystems, and so are ineffective and don’t meet the multiple needs of society. We are passionate about ‘upgrading our operating system’ as land managers and citizens, to effectively work with and restore the environment as an ecological system and reduce the rate and impacts of climate change.