Botany meets the blockchain: Bitcoin SV’s role in protecting biological diversity
Many people will make you believe that Bitcoin and the environment do not mix. But that is simply not the case, according to Daniel Keane, co-founder and CEO of Predict Ecology.
Blockchain is actually a real resource for the environmental industry because its unchanging general ledger technology means that it is a permanent and reliable record of data. “In 100 years you will still have that string of numbers, they will still be written to the blockchain,” says Daniel.
This is especially important when it comes to monitoring and predicting ecological changes, which is Daniel’s area of expertise. He explains that it is important to collect and analyze data to see the effects of human development on biological diversity, so that future projects can reduce their impact.
This is something Daniel has experienced on his own in his time as a consultant for the mining industry. Mining companies are required to rehabilitate and repair the ecosystem when mining has ceased, and it was Daniel’s job to check that they did a good job.
“I am a botanist, more specifically, and I often validated and evaluated the rehabilitation they had replanted, and compared it to the reference ecosystems they were trying to achieve,” he says.
Daniel tells CoinGeeks Charles Miller that it was when he attended a start-up weekend in Queensland with Paul Chiari, founder of WeatherSV and MetaStreme, that he realized how useful the Bitcoin SV blockchain could be for his purposes. That was when Predict Ecology, an environmental and ecological consulting company focusing on real data and predictive modeling, was born.
Predict Ecology starts by collecting data using a mobile data collector. The data are then validated and verified using traditional field survey techniques. The combined datasets are then loaded into the BSV ledger using the MetaStreme transaction processor, so that the data can be indexed and retrieved in a self-service “pay-per-view” framework, open to researchers and modelers worldwide.
Daniel explains that by entering data on the blockchain, the risk of possible damage to the information is eliminated. This is reassuring for customers who work with large amounts of data over many years.
“I may have quit the business, I may have had a server fire, I may have lost my notebook. There are a whole bunch of variables there, so the security of the long-term check is where it really comes into play.”
Daniel says that he wants Predict Ecology and MetaStreme to be the “plumber” who works behind the scenes to ensure that clients can utilize the power of the blockchain. This means that customers without technical or ecological knowledge can interact with the BSV blockchain to easily register data and keep an eye on their environmental footprint.
His goal is admirable: a network of long-standing and high-quality data that will help companies monitor and model biodiversity. It is also a strong example of how blockchain technology can be used in the fight against climate change.
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