We’ve decided to sell the Seychelles magpie robin!

But don’t panic; none of the 59 Seychelles magpie robins will be expelled from their home on Cousin. Instead, it is their digital likeness that will be sold.

Nature Seychelles with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Porini Foundation are launching the world’s first Digital Nature Collectibles (Non-Fungible Token for Conservation (NFTC), the first Digital Species for a future series of Digital Species Collectibles.

The Seychelles magpie robin has been selected to kick off this foray into the unchartered waters of digital tokens for conservation, with a limited edition of the first 59 collectibles set to be launched. Each token will be a representation of a living bird currently on Cousin Island, which are all known and can be identified individually through a unique system that also includes every aspect of their biology.

We have been talking about how important it is to innovate during this crisis and we are happy to be early adopters of this innovative technology, we named it – Next-Gen Conservation" - Dr. Nirmal Jivan Shah, CEO Nature Seychelles

The world’s first Digital Nature Collectible  will be available on https://porini-foundation.myshopify.com/ from July 19th 2021

Learn more: https://exchange.iucngreenlist.org/marketplace/

Download the Green List Marketplace #app on your Android and Apple phones 📱 to buy your limited edition Seychelles magpie robin Nature Collectible! Learn more: https://porini.foundation/app

The Nature Seychelles wallet address that can receive tokens on any EVM Compatible Blockchain and particularly on the zero-carbon sustainability chain is: 0x9b769032111980716ac7b16a415d1ad462921cad

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Why the Seychelles magpie robin?

Seychelles magpie robin (Photo : Nature Seychelles / Ludivine Ammon)

The Seychelles magpie robin was one of the rarest birds. In 1990 less than 20 birds were left on Fregate Island in Seychelles. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Birdlife International started a recovery programme, which included research, habitat restoration, removal of alien predators, and education. The programme was taken over by Nature Seychelles in 1998. The programme has been a huge success with 460 birds now occurring on 5 islands. 

FAQs

What is a Non-Fungible Token (NFT)?

An NFT (non-fungible token) is a one-of-a-kind piece of digital content and can be linked to an image or a video. The NFT’s ownership is authenticated and verifiable by the blockchain, a technology that can prevent copypasting and was first used for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. That means while copies of videos, images and even animated gifs can multiply on the internet, there can be only one with a certificate of authenticity. Like other collectibles, people can buy, sell and trade them or even use them as collaterals.

How will the #NatureCollectibles be sold?

They will be available here for purchase using credit card or other means of payment. There will be a marketplace for reselling the collectibles, so they can be traded and purchased again in the future.

Why NFTs & The business case for NFTs for conservation funding?

Funding for conservation is not always guaranteed and the COVID-19 pandemic made things even harder. Many areas lost a great part of their budget and revenue, especially those relying on tourism income.

With the world’s first Digital Nature Collectible, we can offer a new road to income and extend the NFT market beyond art, games and music. With #NatureCollectibles, we want to provide sustainable funding and an innovative financing alternative for conservation work in protected and conserved areas.

By highlighting key values in these protected areas we emphasize the conservation role of each protected and conserved area, whilst also engaging our main audiences and beyond to be an active contributor to conservation efforts.

Why should these NFTCs be trusted?

Pioneered by the IUCN Green List, Swiss-based Porini Foundation and Nature Seychelles. These nature collectibles support conservation work in protected and conserved areas committed to or certified by the IUCN Green List for their fair and effective conservation outcomes.

Hence, relying on the IUCN Green List Standard, with its 3rd party assurance and validation ensures the positive impact and credibility of these NFTCs and that they’re directed to work where impact is seen, measured and internationally recognised.

Any protected and conserved area that gains ‘Green List’ status demonstrates:

Respect: for the local community through fair and meaningful engagement of rights-holders and stakeholders
Design: planning that identifies the need to secure the important values of the area
Effective management: monitoring of the status of these important values
Successful conservation results: for nature and for people
Clear contribution: to climate change responses, health and well-being and other challenges

Why Blockchain Technology?

Blockchain technology offers two big advantages for our nature collectibles project:
First: Fast payments and we can see that the money arrives directly at the beneficiary.
Second: the NFT standard ensures that the collectible is indeed unique and that there is only a limited number of items which can be sold.

What is the carbon footprint of #NatureCollectibles?

Since the #NatureCollectibles are implemented on the zero-carbon blockchain solutions of Porini Foundation the carbon footprint of the #NatureCollectibles is only a few milligrams of CO2 which is compensated through Porini Foundation

Our wallet address is: 0x9b769032111980716ac7b16a415d1ad462921

1-10 June 2019 - Praslin Island, Seychelles

ABOUT THE LEADERS IN CORAL REEFS RESTORATION TRAINING WORKSHOP

This is a two-week intensive full-time 120 hours’ hands-on, in-water practical program. In addition to providing an experience on what is involved in coral reef restoration using the coral reef gardening concept, the workshop touches on basic principles of restoration ecology, current best practices for coral reef restoration, appropriate design and logistics.

The workshop will be divided into a series of classroom lessons and field activities. It will be coordinated by Dr Phanor H Montoya-Maya of the NGO Corales de Paz and Research Associate to Nature Seychelles, the NGO responsible for the largest coral reef restoration project completed to date in the Indian Ocean: the USAID/UNDP-GEF-funded “Reef Rescuers: Restoring Reefs in the Face of Climate Change”. The current Reef Rescuers Project Technical Coordinators, Paul Anstey and Chloe Shute, will assist in training and logistics.

The sessions will be held at the Reef Rescuers, Centre for Ocean Restoration Awareness & Learning (CORAL) in Praslin Island, Seychelles, which is about 20 min flight from Mahe, the island capital. All field activities will be carried out on SCUBA diving equipment. This workshop will result in the first cohort of Coral Reef Restoration Leaders, a collaboration between Corales de Paz, the Noble Caledonia Charitable Trust  and Nature Seychelles.

ONLINE COMPONENT OF THE WORKSHOP

Before attending the workshop in the Seychelles, participants will be required to complete an online course in coral reef restoration presented by The Nature Conservancy's Reef Resilience Network. Through this course, participants will learn critical background information on reef restoration best practices and have the opportunity to discuss concepts with peers and course mentors who are experts in the field. The online course runs from April 15 - May 24th, 2019, and will include the following lessons: 

• Lesson 1: Introduction to Restoration & Project Planning
• Lesson 2: Restoring Coral Populations with Coral Gardening
• Lesson 3: Restoring Coral Populations with Larval Propagation 
• Lesson 4: Restoring Reef Structure for Coastal Resilience
• Lesson 5: Emergency and Rapid Response Restoration
• Lesson 6: Monitoring for Restoration Success

Combining the online course with the hands-on workshop will be a very effective means of training as you will spend time on background knowledge prior to the in-person workshop where hands-on practice will be the major focus.

OBJECTIVES

• After the e-learning and field training period the participants will be able to:
• Understand key considerations for planning a restoration project
• Describe common restoration techniques including coral gardening and monitoring
• Make informed decisions on the need and suitability of a coral reef restoration project
• Identify the logistics and funding needs of a coral restoration project
• Build mid water coral nurseries
• Populate coral nurseries
• Outplant corals onto a degraded reef site

Participants will also experience the process of selecting and evaluating donor, nursery and transplantation sites; maintaining nurseries; and monitoring of nursery and transplantation components.

PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS

This workshop targets community leaders and reef practitioners from the Western Indian Ocean region (Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Reunion Island, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa and Tanzania) who are working or plan to work on coral reef restoration in their home countries; people that don't have the resources to pay for such training but are committed to coral reef conservation. The objective is to build capacity for people living in the WIO region and to improve coral reef conservation efforts at a local and national scale in the region. For application, applicants must mention how they will apply the knowledge and skills gained in their home reefs. A product of the training program is a draft proposal of a project the applicant would like to undertake back home.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

• Interested participants are invited to submit their application package to Corales de Paz using the online form that can be found in this link: https://goo.gl/forms/skyuuMsDUjHCOYlu2
• Applications must be completed in English. If another language is used, it would be helpful to include a summary of the CV in English
• An application will be deemed admissible only if it is sent by the deadline and includes the documents referred to below. All documents submitted by applicants should be duly filled in, legible and signed

Supporting documents: 

Each application shall include the following documents:

• A cover letter explaining the applicant's motivation for answering this call and stating what contribution the applicant could make to the workshop and to coral reef conservation in the region
• A selection criteria form duly filled in documenting how the applicant fulfils the selection criteria listed below of this call
• A CURRICULUM VITAE (CV) for the individual, preferably not exceeding three pages. We suggest that CVs shall be submitted in the European format and must include two professional references

Additional supporting documents (e.g. diving certifications) may be requested at a later stage.

IMPORTANT DATES

• 22 March 2019: Deadline for applications
• April 15 - May 24 2019: On-line component of the training
• June 1 - 10 2019: Hands-on workshop in Praslin Island, Seychelles

WORKSHOP TUITION

All course fees are covered. Also covered are onsite accommodation at the Reef Rescuers, Centre for Ocean Restoration Awareness & Learning (CORAL) in Praslin Island, Seychelles and flight costs from home countries. Selected applicants will be required to pay a registration fee of US$200 on arrival in the Seychelles, which would then be returned as seed funding towards their project on successful completion of the workshop.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Corales de Paz and the selection committee will take the following criteria into account when assessing applications:

• Proven and relevant competence and experience as leaders in his/her community, in the conservation of marine ecosystems and/or at least in coral reefs of the Western Indian Ocean and/or worldwide
• Proven and relevant experience and interest in setting up coral reef conservation (i.e. protection and restoration) projects at the country and/or international level
• Proven and relevant competence and experience in diving using SCUBA equipment (at least 50 logged sea dives)
• Good knowledge of the English language, allowing active participation in the discussions

CONTACT INFORMATION

For all inquiries regarding this this training please contact Dr Phanor H Montoya-Maya, via phmontoya @ coralesdepaz.org, with a copy to info @ coralesdepaz.org

Attachments:

Leaders in Coral Reef Restoration Training Workshop

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REEF RESCUERS TRAINING PROGRAM: PRASLIN, REPUBLIC OF SEYCHELLES; 29TH JUNE – 7TH AUGUST 2015

Background
Reef Rescuers is a coral reef restoration project funded by USAID (United States Agency for International Development), implemented by Nature Seychelles, a leading environmental NGO located in Seychelles, Indian Ocean. The project aims to restore coral reefs by adopting current best practice methods to test coral reef restoration at a large scale (more than 10,000 coral transplants). Based on the “reef gardening” concept, these current best practice methods, promulgated by the World Bank/GEF Coral Reef Targeted Research were used with the assistance of international experts. The first phase generated a pool of 40,000 farmed coral colonies (fragments from healthy donor colonies, or corals of opportunity –corals detached with no chance of survival) reared in underwater nurseries to transplantable size. The second phase consisted of transplanting over 25,000 nursery-grown corals onto a degraded reef. In the process, Reef Rescuers developed new techniques suitable for large scale coral reef restoration with the resources found at SIDS (Small Island Developing States). We are now offering certified training in coral reef restoration based on our experience.

Course description
This 6-week training program is designed for scientists, managers, practitioners, and local communities requiring a solid foundation on coral reef restoration using the coral reef gardening concept. The course curriculum requires previous knowledge of basic reef ecology, the scientific method and SCUBA diving certification.

In addition to learning how to complete a coral reef restoration project using the coral reef gardening concept, how to build mid water nurseries and how to outplant corals onto a degraded reef site, the course provides guidance on appropriate design, logistics, and evaluation of the project based on the Reef Rescuers’ experience in the Republic of Seychelles, Western Indian Ocean. Thus, the program includes practice of low-cost field tested methods as well as troubleshooting problems encountered in field conditions.

COURSE CONTENT
Week 1 
Academic sessions
-Registration and introduction
-Review of coral reef ecology concepts
-Defining coral reef restoration and coral reef gardening
-Donor site and coral species selection
-Selection of sites for reef restoration and nursery constructing
Practical sessions
-SCUBA diving skills check-up
-Coral and fish identification 
-Site selection surveys
-Donor site and species surveys

Week 2 
Academic and practical sessions
-Site demarcation 
-Net nursery construction
-Rope nursery construction

Week 3
Academic and practical sessions
-Donor fragment collection
-Nursery stocking
-Nursery maintenance
-Rope and net nursery transfer

Week 4 
Academic sessions
-Preparing for coral transplantation
-Demographic and spatial considerations for transplantation
-Methods of coral transplantation 
-Practical sessions 
-Transportation of corals to transplantation site
-Natural cleaning stations 
-Cement transplantation of individual colonies

Week 5
Academic and sessions
-Underwater survey methods
-Scientific data quality control and archiving
-Monitoring of donor, nursery-grown and translated colonies
-Resilience assessment of coral reefs
-Research project design and execution
Practical sessions
-Small-research projects design and fieldwork 
-Monitoring donor and control colonies
-Monitoring nursery colonies
-Monitoring transplantation site
-Resilience assessment of coral reefs

Week 6 
Academic sessions
-Project management
-Team selection
-Field operations
-Funding reef restoration projects
-Data analysis and reporting 
Practical sessions
-Small-research projects fieldwork
-Small-research projects presentations
-Course evaluation
-Course debriefing

Prerequisites
The course is aimed to scientists, managers, practitioners, and local communities actively working in the field of marine biology and reef conservation. Practical marine research experience, however limited, will be helpful, but is not required. SCUBA certification is required and applicants will need to meet Nature Seychelles’ standards for "temporary diver" status.

Costs
The total cost is US $2,950 for the course. The cost includes accommodation, supplies, boat trips, tanks and weights, air fills, and facility fees, but does not cover travel and meals. You should bring your own laptop and dive gear (except tanks and weights).

Instructors
Sarah Frias-Torres, PhD, Reef Rescuers Coordinator
Phanor Montoya-Maya, PhD, Reef Rescuers Technical/Scientific officer

OUR STAFF

To enroll
By April 24, 2015, send an email with “Reef Rescuers Training Program 2015” in the subject line to Dr Phanor H Montoya-Maya (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), indicating your interest (i.e. why do you want to take this course? how will you use the training in your career?) and a CV. Please specify how likely you are to participate, assuming that you will have to pay $2,950 by the end of May. The course is limited to 8 participants.