Conservation-themed WildEarth NFTs to help preserve habitats

One of the world’s largest broadcasters of Livestream animal and nature experiences, WildEarth, has launched an NFT collection that enables viewers and nature enthusiasts to support conservation efforts.

The WildEarth broadcasting team, which has been screening live from the famous Djuma Game Reserve in South Africa for over a decade, is embarking on an innovative new venture by creating limited-edition collections of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The collection will feature some of the unique animals they have consistently featured since their broadcasting started.

Collectors will be able to follow the lives of these individual animals on WildEarth TV, but a portion of every sale of these NFTs from now into the future goes back to the custodians of the wildlife habitat on which the animals live, as an incentive to conserve that habitat.

So far, the NFT initiative has been marketed to over more than five monthly viewers of WildEarth’s TV channel on platforms including Roku, DStv Africa, Amazon, iOS, Android, Plex, Bolt, Huawei, Xumo, Samsung+, Sling, LG+, Zeasn, and others. In Q4 of 2022, each NFT will be associated with individual animals, with each NFT-owner given access via a mobile app to video, stills, details, anecdotes, and the movement over time of each animal.

Using NFT’s to fund conservation and preserve biodiversity

According to reports, WildEarth will mint limited collections of non-fungible tokens for each of the animals they feature. Once minted, there will never be any more made. Each NFT in the collection relates to a physical animal, and not to a video or picture of that animal. Each NFT has its own unique serial number within that animal’s collection. 

However, the broadcaster is keen to point out that these particular NFTs are not a hotcake investment opportunity. Instead, their principal purpose is to fund wild habitat conservation by providing NFT owners with a special relationship to unique animals. Purchasers, WildEarth has said,  should not expect the NFTs to increase in value and they may lose all value except that special relationship. Therefore, WildEarth strongly suggests that interested parties should only spend money on NFTs they can afford to lose.

To ensure collectability, each animal will only have a limited number of NFTs minted. Initially, WildEarth will release the Genesis Collection – the first 25 animal collections consisting of 11 Leopards, nine lions, and five hyenas.

As part of the broadcaster’s efforts to contribute funds back to conservation, 40% of every NFT sold by WildEarth is paid over to the custodian of the wild habitat that each animal lives or lived on. Furthermore, 8% of every future sale will be converted into the local currency and then paid to the habitat custodian forever. The money is paid in the local currency to the habitat in which the animal associated lives as an incentive to conserve it.

The aim is to fund local community projects that generate food and support education so that leading poverty issues are addressed to reduce incidences of hunting and poaching. An estimated US$15k has already been allocated to some custodians from the pre-sale of the NFTs.

Secure NFT blockchain partners for WildEarth

WildEarth has also announced that it will only be creating and storing its NFTs on blockchains that have low carbon footprints and green consciousness as part of its ESG commitments. 

Graham Wallington, WildEarth’s co-founder, and CEO explains, “Since 2007, we have built a loyal and growing army of nature lovers who watch our TV channel frequently, many of them daily. This new NFT initiative binds our community closer to the animals they love, fostering a personal and emotional connection to the animals of their choice while providing funding for the care and conservation of the environments in which those animals live.”

In February 2022, the Search and ID show on WildEarth TV will introduce the new “watch-to-earn” utility. A thermal drone will search the African darkness to find and identify nocturnal predators and add them to the animal registry. At that moment, a limited-time minting window will open up for viewers to mint that animal as an NFT. Once the minting window closes, it will not re-open.

A future mobile app will provide access to all individual animal data and enable social chat between NFT-owners, thus encouraging the sharing of information about the NFT animal subjects.

Torsten Hoffmann, producer of two award-winning documentaries about Bitcoin and the crypto sector and a long-time investor in WildEarth adds, “WildEarth’s mission has always been to increase the value of nature to people. With these NFTs, we bring something completely new to the market.”