State of Grace

The River Basin Resilience Strategy

The Valueflow Strategy

The Essential Elements

Collective Visioning

Tim Smit Intro to Valley of Grace, SA

Project Planning

Explore

The Valueflow Strategy

Harnessing Land Trusts and Community Currencies to Create Healthy Valueflow out of the Old into the New

Expansionist Monetary Systems (EMS)

The Heart of the Cultural Paradigm Driving Growth and Consumerism

A Thought Experiment

A Gentle Introduction to Crypto Tokens for Impact Investing

Land Trusts (LTs)

Backing the Value of Land Stewardship Tokens

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

Empowering Bioregional Sovereignty through Digital/Crypto Tokens

Land Stewardship Tokens (LSTs)

Unlocking Sustainable Returns for Investors while Unleashing Bioregional Regeneration

Bioregional Progress Indicators (BPIs)

Shaping the Value of Land Stewardship Tokens

Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS)

The Role of PGS in Measuring, Reporting, and Verifying BPIs

Pricing LSTs

The Complex Price Dynamics of LSTs, BPIs, and CICs

Community Inclusion Currencies (CICs)

Empowering Bioregional Sovereignty through Healthy Value Flows

Enhancing Practicality and Adoption of CICs

Overcoming Limitations and Establishing Collaborative Systems

Introduction

[This Valueflow Strategy is an exploration of how we fund the shift to Living in a State of Grace, which you can read about here:

SoG Intro⁠

In the quest for

bioregional regenerative development⁠

, innovative funding valueflow strategies that align economic incentives with social inclusion and environmental regeneration are crucial. It is also important to address the cultural paradigm that prioritizes growth and consumerism, underpinned by an expansionist monetary system. This section explores a valueflow strategy for a resilient bioregion that leverages:

Nature-Based Assets: the tangible and intangible resources provided by natural ecosystems that provide health and vitality to humans;

Land Trusts: the mechanism to convert any parcel of land from the world of ‘ownership’ to the world of ‘stewardship’;

Land Stewardship Tokens: the mechanism to create a healthy value flow from external financial capital (the system that is dying) into the sovereign bioregion (the system that is emerging);

Bioregional Progress Indicators: the MRV (measurement, reporting, verification) mechanism to track progress over time, while directly impacting the value of Land Stewardship Tokens;

Participatory Guarantee Systems: the peer-to-peer quality assurance and certification system that underpins the authenticity of the Bioregional Progress Indicators;

Community Inclusion Currencies: the mechanism that incentivizes the local community to actively participate in improving the Bioregional Progress Indicators.

What is provided here is merely a framework which you will need to adapt to local circumstances. It’s important that you consult the necessary professionals who can provide much-needed country and bioregional legal advice. These professionals include environmental and/or estate lawyers, token and/or currency designers, initial coin offering (ICO) and/or marketing specialists and environmental impact assessment and/or biodiversity specialists.

The Need to Transition

When we dig deep into the root causes of the polycrisis, we gain an understanding that at the very heart of the challenge is a cultural paradigm that prioritizes growth and consumerism. Only if we transcend this paradigm and create a new one that orients us towards regeneration as a cultural paradigm will we have a chance to prevent our converging planetary crises. To do so, we must understand more about Expansionist Monetary Systems (EMS).

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LEARN MORE ABOUT EMS

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Nature-Based Assets (NBAs)

Our Expansionist Monetary Systems extract value from Nature and convert these natural resources into a crude metric called Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while ignoring all externalities. By placing a value on NBAs and allocating measurable metrics to these assets, we can create an entirely new monetary system, grounded in values and principles.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT NBAs

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Land Trusts (LTs)

Land Trusts are established with the primary objective of long-term conservation and stewardship of land and the associated Nature-Based Assets. By placing land into a land trust, it ensures that the land will be protected and managed in perpetuity for the benefit of the bioregion and its communities. This commitment to long-term stewardship instills confidence in stakeholders, including investors, donors, and the local community, that the land and all its resources will be used responsibly and sustainably.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT LTs

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Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

Non-Fungible Tokens are digital assets that represent ownership, proof of authenticity or stewardship of a unique item (e.g. land) or piece of content (e.g. digital art). Unlike cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which are fungible and can be exchanged on a one-to-one basis, NFTs are unique and indivisible (they cannot be traded or exchanged like Bitcoin can). Each NFT has a distinct property and cannot be exchanged on a like-for-like basis. NFTs are the basis of Land Stewardship Tokens.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT NFTs

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Land Stewardship Tokens (LSTs)

The issuance of Land Stewardship Tokens involves tokenizing parcels of land within the bioregion that have been placed into a Land Trust, representing fractional ownership or stewardship rights. These tokens serve as investment vehicles that attract external capital from investors interested in supporting sustainable development. The tokens' value is linked to a range of Bioregional Progress Indicators, which measure and track the bioregion's ecological, social, and economic health.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT LSTs

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LEARN ABOUT PRICING LSTs

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Bioregional Progress Indicators (BPIs)

Bioregional Progress Indicators are a set of quantifiable metrics that assess the bioregion's constantly-improving regeneration and well-being. These indicators can include ecological factors like biodiversity, water quality, and carbon emissions, as well as social factors like community engagement, education, and healthcare access. Economic indicators, such as local businesses' viability and employment rates, can also be included. As the bioregion demonstrates progress in these indicators, the value of the Land Stewardship Tokens increases, providing a financial incentive for investors to contribute to the region's regenerative development.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT BPIs

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Participatory Guarantee System (PGS)

The Participatory Guarantee System is a peer-to-peer quality assurance and certification system originally used in organic agriculture. It is a decentralized and participatory approach to certification that involves active participation and trust-building among farmers, consumers, and other careholders. The PGS methodology can easily support the need to measure, report, and verify Bioregional Progress Indicators, significantly contributing to the goals of bioregional sovereignty and creating healthy value flows into the bioregion.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT PGS

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Community Inclusion Currencies (CICs)

The revenue generated from Land Stewardship Tokens is used to back a Community Inclusion Currency. CICs introduce a replicable mechanism for communities to eradicate poverty by creating connected, inclusive, and sustainable local economies using community-designed and issued tokens on open source blockchain technology. These fiat exchange mechanisms act as a catalyst for communities to develop and trade their own medium of exchange (CICs) backed by their own productive and regenerative activities, all of which are linked to the Bioregional Progress Indicators. The Community Inclusion Currency acts as a catalyst for community participation, fostering a sense of stewardship and accountability for the bioregion's progress. As the BPIs improve, the value of the Land Stewardship Tokens increase, providing financial return as well as evidence of effective stewardship to the original investor.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT CICs

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Enhancing Adoption of CICs

CICs face certain limitations, particularly in their inability to be used for essential services and obligations that typically require fiat currency. However, innovative strategies and collaborative systems can overcome these limitations and ensure the seamless integration of CICs within the bioregion’s existing economic framework, while ensuring sovereignty and healthy value flows.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT CIC ADOPTION

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Benefits and Impacts

Implementing this valueflow strategy brings several benefits and impacts. Firstly, it attracts external capital investment that bolsters the bioregion's financial resources for sustainable development initiatives. Secondly, it empowers the local community by providing them with a tangible incentive, the Community Inclusion Currency, to actively participate in improving the bioregion's well-being. Thirdly, it promotes a circular economy that supports local businesses, strengthens community ties, and reduces reliance on external resources. Finally, it ensures that ecological, social, and economic factors are integrated into the valueflow strategy, fostering holistic and regenerative development.

Conclusion

A funding valueflow strategy combining Land Stewardship Tokens and Community Inclusion Currency presents a transformative approach to financing bioregional development. By attracting external capital through Land Stewardship Tokens and incentivizing local participation with the Community Inclusion Currency, this strategy aligns economic incentives with the improvement of Bioregional Progress Indicators. It fosters a sense of accountability, resilience, and sustainability within the bioregion, paving the way for a regenerative future that prioritizes ecological well-being, community prosperity, and local self-sufficiency.