Data sovereignty for climate markets.
Practical principles, tools, and practices for applying FPIC in the context of data and Indigenous data sovereignty (IDsov).
The rules below are incorporated into our contracts and policies and apply across every site we work with. We’ll outlink to training and practice materials as applicable.
Grower information
For all Savimbo growers
Year
2026
Enforceable
control > OPINIONS
There is no point in talking about data sovereignty and data rights unless agreements can be enforced under appropriate legal systems or by properly storing, attributing, and controlling access to data. Sometimes, air-gapping (not recording data at all) is the best practice given the current risks to communities of improperly controlled data accessed by AI. Control first, then negotiation.
Verticals
CONCRETE CASE STUDIES
We need to focus on concrete verticals which are properly biculturally negotiated from advanced data use (industrial world expertise) to grassroots authorities (Indigenous and traditional aims). These verticals might be narrow in scope to begin, but collectively will begin forming more comprehensive and useful standards as case studies. This early process is ethical if approached as experimental.
Interactive
CONSENT NEEDS EDUCATION
We can’t even begin forming proper consents until we have multimedia, multilingual, modular concepts broken down for communities to think over, redesign, and debate. Teaching pages like this one allow the debate to happen first, before decisions are made. Even then, the heterogeneity of thought and fast-paced nature of the problem will require constant renegotiation and open communication channels.
Data sovereignty verticals
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Open-source contracts
Our data contracts are public and take ongoing community feedback. Legal team in the Ethics program. Practice-based incorporation of principles. License-not-transfer, written down and enforceable — proof we mean it about data rights, not just principles on a page.
License, never transfer · Public & revisable · Live
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eDNA consent
Environmental DNA reads the genetic traces an ecosystem leaves in soil and water — and can incidentally capture human sequences. Before any analysis or publication, samples are screened for human DNA, which is filtered and permanently deleted; raw samples are destroyed after use, and the data steward is told when disposal happens.
Human sequences deleted · Steward-verified disposal · First negotiated case
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Air-gapping
What you don't collect, you can't lose, misuse, or mistranslate. We strip all humans from camera footage before anything reaches the cloud, and store the minimum cultural and language data needed to establish authenticity — no medicinal or sacred-plant data, no geocodes.
Humans stripped pre-cloud · Minimum-collection rule · In practice now
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Plant knowledge referrals
Medicinal-plant and cultural knowledge stays off the ecological track — either not collected, or referred to external bodies with proper ethical protections like the Beneficial Plant Research Association. No bioprospecting, no biopiracy.
Air-gapped or referred · BPRA-protected · Every site
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Data steward + concierge pairs
We pair community data stewards with community-partner data concierges. Together they manage community data and communicate to the collective about what is available, how to retrieve it, and present it in an accessible format.
Community-appointed · Reports to assembly · Client-provided · On the community's call · Every site
DATA SOVERIENTY PRACTICESAir-gapping
We’re bullish about the practice of air-gapping non-relevant data. What you don’t collect, you’re not responsible for storing, misuse, or translation.
Basics
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We air-gap all humans on cameras where we work. That means any humans recorded on below cameras are removed before data is loaded to the cloud.
We also store and share the absolute minimum cultural data to establish authenticity, language data for translations, and no medicinal or sacred plant data or geocodes.
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We have friends who work in nuclear power cybersecurity. Airgapping is an industry practice there and we adopted it.
DATA SOVERIENTY PRACTICESPlant knowledge
You can’t be good at everything, and we humbly admit we’re not qualified to handle Nagoya protocols or the ethical transfer, protection, or commercialization of plant knowledge. We refer!
Basics
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We airgap all plant knowledge in our databases, including the location or geocodes of sacred plants medicinal formulations, or species names. And refer communities out to partners for this information.
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It depends on the communities. We prefer the Beneficial Plant Research Association because they use whole plants in clinical trials and that is more aligned with the traditional uses.
DATA SOVERIENTY PRACTICESData steward + concierge
We learned through practice that bicultural teams are better at managing community property in an ongoing relationship. Credit to WarīNkwī Flores from Kinray Hub for helping to co-negotiate this structure.
Basics
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The community names a steward — a member who learns what data is collected, how it's stored, and how to reach it, and who carries results back to the assembly.
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The client commits to, and names a concierge on call to the community — to explain, retrieve, correct, display, or withdraw data on request. One side holds the data; the other serves it.