Partner Spotlight: Savimbo

We are excited to announce Native’s new partnership with Savimbo!

Native Squared has long sought a biodiversity unit system aligned with its values and the unique needs of its projects, but has mostly been left unimpressed with existing methodologies and approaches and concerned that biodiversity credits risk repeating the many mistakes of mainstream carbon markets.

Biodiversity credits are market-based tools that assign a financial value to measurable, long-term improvements to natural environments, aiming to incentivize conservation and restoration efforts. While traditionally used in compliance markets such as the UK’s biodiversity net gain regulation aimed at property developments, voluntary biodiversity credit markets are also gaining traction. However, implementation remains complex due to challenges in reliably measuring and verifying biodiversity gains in dynamic natural environments.

Moreover, many existing models focused heavily on ecosystem “uplift”, restoring degraded areas, while overlooking the intrinsic value of intact, high-integrity landscapes. To put it simply, if the aim is to protect the few fully intact, pristine ecosystems which remain - by far the most critical biodiversity objective of all - then “uplift” is not, in fact, the intended goal. Conservation projects hoping to issue these types of credits would then be forced to demonstrate threats to ecosystems in order to issue any biodiversity credits, which both creates incentives to generate threats and disincentivises governments from putting in place legal protections.

What was needed was a model that valued protection as much as restoration, one that recognized the importance of preserving pristine ecosystems, aligned with Indigenous perspectives, and could be applied across diverse ecological contexts worldwide, both marine and terrestrial. Savimbo’s approach delivered on all fronts.

Each Savimbo biodiversity unit represents one hectare of ecosystem with an integrity score of 1 (fully intact) per month. In conservation projects, where ecosystems are already pristine or near-pristine, credits are issued immediately and consistently. In restoration projects, credit issuance increases as the ecosystem’s integrity improves over time, making the model dynamic, measurable, and adaptable across different landscapes. So a hectare of fully intact ecosystem will deliver 1 unit per month, whereas an ecosystem which is considered to be 50% intact will issue 0.5 Savimbo units per month.

From our first conversations, it was clear that Savimbo viewed biodiversity and carbon markets with the same clarity and scientific integrity we value at Native. They were impressed not just with our approach and questions, but also with the breadth and depth of our multidisciplinary team and the progress we’d made toward a rigorous, equitable carbon protocol that mirrored their analysis.

Savimbo’s biodiversity units are interoperable across ecosystems, Indigenous-led, and crucially, designed to reward the protection of existing natural habitats. This strong alignment of vision and values led to a partnership.

Savimbo had independently reached many of the same conclusions that Native had. They saw the partnership as an opportunity to bring their biodiversity expertise into a collaboration already focused on outcomes-based environmental crediting. What particularly resonated was our shared commitment to area-based, Indigenous-led solutions and the importance of grounding credits in tangible, measurable ecological outcomes, rather than abstract projections. Their philosophy is simple: “Land is for locals.” Native and Savimbo both view outcomes-based protocols as a way to level the playing field, especially for Indigenous communities that consistently deliver results but whose contributions are often undervalued or marginalised due to rigid reporting formats.

The economic model behind this partnership also reflects our shared values. Rewarding stewardship through fair and equitable revenue shares ensures that those protecting biodiversity are compensated accordingly.

Additionally, Savimbo, led by Drea Burbank and her team, brings a remarkable story of innovation. Their biodiversity credit unit was not built in isolation, it is the product of a truly multidisciplinary team. They aimed to design a more robust, usable unit that integrates ecological science with the realities of economics, health, and community dynamics.

In a space where many biodiversity credits are still narrowly defined by uplift alone, Savimbo’s holistic approach stood out. That’s precisely the kind of thinking Native believes is essential for biodiversity markets to fulfil their promise.

Native is excited to implement Savimbo’s biodiversity units across our projects, and will soon publish Savimbo units on each buyers’ impact dashboard, offering customers a transparent, ethical, and measurable way to support biodiversity. This collaboration marks a meaningful milestone in ensuring that Native Squares remain a best-in-class nature market asset.