Lemu Ecosystem Adoption Plan will channel up to $3 Billion to Conservation Organizations by 2033
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (November 15, 2022) — At COP 27, the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Lemu, creators of an online platform that brings people together to advocate for the planet, will outline the organization’s strategy to channel up to $3 billion by 2033 to protect 130 million hectares or 1% of the Earth’s land. Lemu founder and CEO Leo Prieto will be speaking at COP 27 and presenting the startup’s strategy to finance conservation through its app.
“Nature already has the best solutions needed to reverse the environmental crisis, and with the scientific knowledge and technological tools we have today, we can help boost these nature-based solutions to our man-made crisis,” said Prieto.
“For centuries, stewards of ecosystems all over the world have ensured that nature provides these vital services, yet they struggle to obtain resources for their critical work and have lacked tools to measure the outcomes of these actions. Meanwhile, more and more people want to do something about the climate and biodiversity crisis, but they don’t know which actions achieve the required impact. Lemu bridges this gap by allowing individual and institutional users to adopt and protect parts of our biosphere through these organizations while providing the tools and methodology to monitor environmental investment. Like never before, we can band together as a global online community to invest in and protect our planet, at a scale that allows Lemu to commit to a goal as ambitious as funding the protection of 1% of the Earth in the next decade.”
Lemu’s process begins by selecting and working with conservation organizations all over the world, ranging from big international NGOs to small local communities, supporting them in the use of verifiable, evidence-based conservation methodologies for their projects. These curated protected areas are made available on Lemu’s mobile app so that anyone can explore these ecosystems, learn about their conservation and restoration programs, including expected outcomes and monitoring methods, and use that information to adopt an individual cell and witness the progressive impact of these efforts. Lemu was launched this month for early adopters on iOS and Android and will become an open platform early in 2023.
The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration initiative has committed to rallying the resources needed to designate 30% of the Earth’s land and oceans as protected areas by 2030. Using the startup’s app to create an online conservationist community, Lemu expects to finance the protection of 1% of land on Earth or 130 million hectares, making it responsible for an important part of the 2030 global commitment.
The founding team’s past experience building massive online communities allows them to project that during this decade, they will channel up to $3 billion in funding to conservation organizations worldwide. Although this is not a small amount, it is still a fraction of the resources required annually to enable effective conservation programs — estimated to be between $722 and $967 billion globally (Deutz et al, 2020). This underlines the urgency of ensuring the most efficient use of capital so that each dollar invested in conservation can have the highest impact, which can only be achieved by evidence-based methodologies.
Last year at COP 26 in Glasgow, Lemu introduced itself to the world at the Futures Lab panel in the Blue Zone’s Action Hub. This kickstarted its global network of collaborators, which currently includes over 80 conservation organizations in 15 countries representing over 2 million hectares of protected areas.
At this same venue, the startup announced Lemu Nge (“Forest Eye” in the mapuche language), its own hyperspectral satellite dedicated to Earth observation which has been 4 years in the making and that will launch via SpaceX in 2023.
Lemu collects information from multiple data sources to create a comprehensive database of the Earth’s biosphere
Lemu aggregates data from satellites, hyperspectral and LiDAR imaging, environmental DNA sampling, bioacoustics, camera traps, auditable open data, scientific literature, public research, and the collective intelligence of all of us with phones in our hands to measure environmental change.
Consolidating this data, Lemu offers a shared resource for individuals, communities, advocacy groups, and non-profit organizations. It also provides a common platform to share information and insight to deal with the environmental crisis and to support conservation initiatives.
About Lemu
Founded by South American Internet pioneer Leo Prieto, Lemu is committed to using technology to harness collective intelligence to improve life for all of Mother Earth’s inhabitants. Lemu encourages users to learn, explore, and invest in nature, conserving biodiversity, reducing emissions and encouraging participation in conservation initiatives. Lemu’s goal is to be responsible for financing the protection of 1% of planet Earth within the next 10 years.
