In this episode of the Smart Forests Radio, we speak with Rob Lewis, an ecologist at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) in Bergen, Norway. Our conversation focuses on Forest-Web-3.0, a collaborative project aimed at incentivising
biodiversity
data sharing and pro-forestation practices, thereby improving forest biodiversity. Rob discusses the potential of
blockchain
technologies for open and fairer data
governance
by ensuring transparency and control of data flows in open and decentralised
networks
. Moreover, through the tokenisation of biodiversity credits, this system has the potential to financially reward forest landowners for preservation efforts, helping to move them away from revenue sources reliant on resource extraction.
Interviewers: Jennifer Gabrys and Michelle Westerlaken
Producer: Harry Murdoch
Listen on Apple and Spotify.
This radio episode was produced by the Smart Forests project funded by the European Research Council. Smart Forests is led by Professor Jennifer Gabrys and is based in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge.
Header image: A conceptual framework illustrating how a blockchain enabled ecological data consortium can be structured and data flow managed. Image source: Lewis, R.J., Marstein, KE. & Grytnes, JA. (2023), retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02496-2.
Smart Forests Atlas materials are free to use for non-commercial purposes (with attribution) under a
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
To cite this radio episode:
Lewis, Rob, Jennifer Gabrys and Michelle Westerlaken, "Rob Lewis: Tokenising Forests to Improve Biodiversity", Smart Forests Atlas (2024), https://atlas.smartforests.net/en/radio/rob-lewis. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.11232471.