Blockchain and conservation: why does it matter

Applications in Payments for Ecosystem services and Bolsa Floresta Program

Luiz Villares

Manaus, AM, Brazil

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1485-5045

Abstract

Blockchain has created an innovative framework for safe, efficient and transparent

chain of transactions, with the impressive rise of more than 5.000 cryptocurrencies

traded anytime, worldwide. These transactions are registered on the web, with no

central server, or proprietors. Blockchain also offers exchange and data solutions for

businesses and society with tokenized currency, immutable data registry, smart con-

tracts and funding sources.

The Amazon region and forest conservation have a positive benefit from Payment

for Ecosystem Service (PES) models that reward landowners and users for keeping

the standing forest, thus providing services for the climate and biodiversity. A Block-

chain proposition addresses key difficulties for PES models, such as lack of trust, high

transaction costs and distance among parties.

In the Brazilian Amazon, Bolsa Floresta Program (Standing Forest Program) bene-

fits nearly 9,600 families living in traditional riverine communities, rewarding them

for their role as the tropical forest keepers. A Blockchain proposition for Bolsa

Floresta indicates positive impacts for forest conservation. In project finance, it allows

the alternative funding with cryptocoins, observed possible regulatory issues. In pro-

ject activities, Blockchain provides platforms for a safe exchange of information,

goods, and possibly, monetary values, among families and associations, thus improv-

ing the standing forest community model. The technical configurations for these pro-

posals include Application Program Interface solutions with online and offline mo-

bility among members. Overall, an analysis of key issues linked to a Blockchain

proposition indicates a favourable deployment for pilot projects in the Amazon re-

gion, and likely, to conservation projects with forests and communities, worldwide.

Keywords: Blockchain, standing forest, conservation, payment for eco-

system services, Amazon, communities

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