Collective Land Stewardship
Last updated
Last updated
Suggested for:
Any town or city whose citizens and local authorities wish to engage in proactive co-creation on a piece of land
The purpose of the collective land stewardship is to propose a new way for citizens to manage and co-create on local pieces of land.
Important note: the philosophy behind this model is to allow a maximum of freedom for citizens to co-create projects in a transparent, open and democratic with no limits to their collective co-creation. The main purpose is to ensure that citizens learn to take responsibility for their collective actions. Current models do not enable such experiences, by hiding externalities (creating landfills in third world countries or polluting neighboring rivers) or by allowing citizens to claim their innocence (the "I did not vote for them" excuse when public authorities mess up).
Examples:
To experiment in co-creating a landfill
To experiment in co-creating a children's play ground
To experiment in co-creating a shared permaculture farm
Thus in the three examples above, the citizens will reap the benefits or suffer the consequences of their collective actions allowing them to raise their level of consciousness and become better co-creators.
Creating an open-ended solution which does not prevent citizens from co-creating detrimental projects stems from a willingness to emulate the non-judgmental functioning of our global bodily functions and systems. For instance, our respiratory and circulatory system does not discriminate between cancerous cells and regular cells, and feeds both in resources and oxygen. In other words, our overarching bodily functions embody the divine qualities of unconditional love, which is a precondition for the cells, organs and various components of the body to lower their shields and feel free to express their uniqueness in a pacified way. Creating any kind of conditionality for accessing these overarching systems would create distortions that would prevent the emergence of a collective decentralized intelligence and coherence.
While some communities may opt for co-creating harmful projects, the feedback loop between their actions and suffering the consequences of their actions will the same essential learning process as that of our bodies, when a child harms him/herself by falling etc.
In this sense, any project is regenerative in one way or another, sometimes regenerating the physical/biological/material aspects of our reality when communities spontaneously opt for such projects, other times regenerating the immaterial aspect of reality by pacifying the inner conflicts between competing ideas or ideologies in people's minds. Any inner conflict will eventually manifest as an outer conflict.
Initial membership The collective stewardship model relies on local authorities' involvement. In the launch phase of the project, all citizens of a town will automatically receive a membership right to the collective stewardship DAO.
Evolving membership Once the initial tokens have been created/issued and distributed amongst all citizens, they will be requested to validate at least 5 other citizens to create a web-of-trust network maintaining the validity of the tokens. This network can then expand beyond the boundaries of the town/city depending on interest from neighboring cities. Citizens who loose interest in the project can let their tokens expire. Thus the membership will evolve dynamically.
Roles and responsibilities While each token holder will have an equal power to vote and propose new projects to be built on the collective stewardship land, token holders will also be free to assign certain roles and responsibilities to specific members of the community.
Equal voice in determining governance rules Each member of the network receives a token which has to be renewed by 5 certifications each year (web-of-trust). Each member has an equal power to vote on governance rules. The system for voting on governance should be designed in such a way as to ensure that these rules can be revised without too much difficulty.
Custom governance rules Communities are free to adopt the governance rules they prefer: majority democracy, consensus, benevolent dictatorship etc. See Hypha's governance tools.
VETO token Local authorities will be granted a special token which allows them to block initiatives deemed dangerous or detrimental. A dialogue should then take place between local authorities and a select group of citizens from the DAO to find a solution. Such a token can also be used, in exceptional circumstances, to dissolve the DAO and sell the collective stewardship land. For instance, in case the DAO membership drops below a certain threshold (for instance, below 5% of the population of the town), and if no activity is recorded on the DAO ledger, this would signal a lack of interest for the project and would enable local authorities to dissolve the DAO.
1) Technical development - ensure that the tools for creating a global and local DAO, creation and distribution of tokens to citizens, tools for proposing, voting and funding projects on the local collective land stewardship are functional.
2) Launch ICO - Collect capital to be locked into DeFi, staking, and other yield generating protocols.
3) Set up global DHO/DAO - The global DHO/DAO would have a very limited mandate: managing the funds collected via the ICO to generate yield, using the yield to buy land keeping the bare property and giving away the usufruct, set up local DHO/DAOs and continuously developing/improving the tool set made available to local communities. The global DHO/DAO would not have the power to make decisions such as selling a piece of land, or influence what a local community wishes to co-create.
4) Purchasing land - Buy the first piece of land and transform it into a collective land stewardship in cooperation with local authorities, local associations and local citizens.
5) Set up the local DAO/DHO - Initiate the creation of the local DHO/DAO in cooperation with local authorities, organisations and citizens, providing training to understand how to use the available tools.
6) Repeat steps 4 and 5 - Keep using the yield generated from the collected funds to buy land for collective land stewardship.
7) Set up a network of local DHO/DAOs - Once we reach a certain threshold of sustainable and successful collective land stewardship communities and DHO/DAOs, create a system for them to be able to connect and organize collectively.
8) Transfer control of the global DHO/DAO - Once the network of local DHO/DAOs is running smoothly, transfer the control of the global DHO/DAO to the network. The aim of this last step is to convert a benevolent pyramidal system into a fully decentralized system running autonomously without any one individual holding the "keys" to the funds or to the development of the tools.
Initial creation and distribution of tokens
Communal services would be central to the initial creation of collective land stewardship. They would be in charge of creating the initial stewardship tokens (see the possibility of creating so-called ERC20 or ERC721 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain) and distributing these tokens to each citizen present in the municipality or each citizen meeting the requirements of collective stewardship (reside within a certain distance or radius of the land). The person(s) who initiated the provision of the land and/or the municipal services would inform the citizens of the project, the terms of participation, the functionalities attached to the possession of the token, and technical information allowing to secure his token, and to participate actively in the management of the land in the form of collective stewardship.
Token management after initial creation
Once the first STWD (steward) tokens are created, burning a token or creating a new token would be done through a "web of trust" system[1]. Access to each token would expire after one year, and would have to be renewed through a system of mutual trust votes between citizens. Each person possessing a token must receive at least 5 “votes” of confidence (5 certifications) certifying that he meets the conditions necessary to be part of the collective stewardship (reside in the town, or live less than 5km from the land). These certifications will have to be renewed every year. Anyone in possession of a valid token can certify another. Any new person establishing his residence and meeting the conditions may be certified by presenting himself to his/her neighbors. Anyone moving and no longer meeting the conditions can either burn their token, or let the certifications received expire (which would also burn their token). Thus, municipal services would no longer need to intervene once collective stewardship has been launched. The latter can then be self-managed. After the initial launch, the stewardship membership can fluctuate beyond the initial parameters. For instance, a citizen living in a nearby town which is very close to the collective stewardship land could ask to join the community. All that is required is for him/her to be certified by at least 5 other certified people. Thus the network of people collectively managing a piece of land could vary and adapt depending on the interest and the will of the initial stewards rather than managed by a centralized authority.
Exceptional powers of the public authority
The municipal services will nevertheless benefit from a special VETO token allowing them to take possession of the land subject to certain conditions. For example, in the event that 90% or more of the tokens expire, which would indicate a disinvestment of citizens vis-à-vis the land, or in the event of abusive management. In the latter case, a legal procedure should decide on the status of the land. Anyone with a token would have to vote to elect a certain number of people who would represent the community before the judge, opposing the representatives of the municipal services. The overall aim is to secure support of local authorities, as this will greatly facilitate the set up of a collective stewardship as well as its overall success (given the power of publicity local authorities have).
Smart contract and collective management
A smart contract would be responsible for managing access and changing the status of the property. Each token would give a right to vote on the status of the property. The smart contract would include voting rules which would be configured by default of majority rule, but could be adjusted and changed by the citizens managing the local DAO (see the sliders for governance in Hypha). Governance rules would be necessary for for different actions: for example, a 2/3 majority vote of all token owners would be required for the resale of the collective stewardship land to a private individual, a private company or to the state. In the event of a resale, the funds managed by the smart contract and the proceeds of the sale would be returned to the global decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) which purchased the land, and the stewardship tokens would be invalidated, along with the local DAO which would be dissolved. The global DAO would then proceed to repurchase special tokens using the proceeds from the sale and converting the repurchased tokens to an airdrop to holders of a token representing a portion of the global DAO’s ownership. Alternatively, the local DAO could also be willing to repurchase the land from the global DAO to be fully autonomous and hold both the bare property rights and usufruct. In that case, the resale price would be fixed at initial purchase price adjusted to inflation.
The smart contract would also allow:
The control and collective management of a digital wallet containing the funds necessary for the management of the collective stewardship of the land, via a local DAO (decentralized autonomous organization). This wallet would ideally contain either a digital version a national currency (depending on the progress of central banks) or a "stable coin" (a digital version of an official currency such as the dollars, euro or the British pound). The community could also decide to buy a number of cryptocurrencies (for instance, Ethereum, Telos) which would be necessary for the smart contract to function properly.
Possession of the collective stewardship token could also make it possible to delegate one’s vote to a person of one’s choice for expenses below a certain threshold to avoid the obligation of too much daily involvement for all token owners (e.g. maintenance work, administrative work etc).
The publication of a land development proposal or an activity submitted to the vote of the community as well as to the municipal services for approval (compliance with the laws). Any publication would require a symbolic monetary contribution, for example 25 €, sent to the collective stewardship portfolio, to avoid an overload of the number of proposals and to ensure a real motivation and involvement of the person at the initiative of the project. An algorithm would manage the price of proposal submission based on the number of members and the number of proposals per month, lowering or raising the price depending on the number of active proposals.
The vote concerning a project based on a set of default rules, to be changed by the community based on their decisions. For instance, starting with absolute simple majority (at least 50% of the votes of all the people holding a token) for any permanent development project, simple majority of the voters for any temporary installation (less than a week) or for any non-recurring activity.
The allocation of funds for a project validated by the community. Following the vote, the requested funds will be released to those who initiated the project, and can be spent by them for a maximum period of time. In the case of a large project (the construction of an event hall for example), the budget could be split into several parts requiring a vote from the community for each tranche, in order to ensure the proper management of works and expenses.
The creation of a "crowdfunding" or crowdpooling participatory financing linked to a project, in the event that the collective funds are not sufficient.
The establishment of recurring payments for certain grounds maintenance services (for example, maintenance of a collective garden, waste collection, etc.).
The automatic distribution of profits, decided collectively, in the case of income linked to the operation of certain projects (for example, the rental of an event hall, or rental of a space for the establishment of markets on the collective stewardship land etc).
Access to collective stewardship of land
The collective stewardship management would be done via a smartphone application (iOS and Android). An application such as the Seeds passport or Hypha could be used for that purpose. Each person would create an account allowing them to access their token which would ideally be an NFT (non fungible token) associated with the name of the person, impossible to transmit or send to another account, and created/maintained by the web of trust (certifications from other users).
Once the identity of the person has been validated, and the status of their token verified (valid certifications), any person in possession of a valid token could perform a certain number of actions concerning the daily management of the collective stewardship (see above).
In order to ensure that all qualifying people can participate, communal services will be asked to include access to the features of collective stewardship on their website or through communal services directly (for example, for the elderly or people who do not have access to digital technologies). The municipal services would hold the "keys" to access the token and manage the certifications directly. Access to the management options would be done either via online services (eID access) or by physically going to the municipality with their identity card.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_of_trust
Technical specifications
Elements based on an smart contract capable ecosystem such as Ethereum, Telos or Terra.
The names, tickers of the various tokens are indicative only.
Blockchain
Main token issued on the a smart contract capable blockchain (for example, the Ethereum blockchain or Telos): ERC20 token – Komonz – KOMO
Secondary token issued on an NFT capable blockchain (for instance Ethereum): ERC721 (NFT) – would be issued with a ratio of 1/1 to KOMO tokens and would represent the ownership of a portion of the DAO (the collected funds during the ICO). Issuance will be based, initially, on a 1$/NFT ratio. For instance, if an investor contributes 1 ETH at a market price of 3000$, he/she will receive 3000 NFTs representing a share of the total funds collected. After the ICO, the total amount of NFTs minted will represent a claim on a portion of the total funds collected. From that point onwards, the market value of the NFT could fluctuate based on offer/demand and the value of the underlying collected funds. For instance, if the ICO collects 1000 ETH at a market price of 3000$, 3 million NFT tokens will be minted. If subsequently, the price of ETH goes down to 1500$, the market value of each individual NFT would be around 50c each.
Third token issued on a smart contract capable blockchain: ERC20 token – Steward – STWD – would be created for all citizens of a town after the purchase of a piece of land, and would represent the right to usufruct of the land, and a right to propose new projects or vote on existing projects, as well as other governance rights linked to the collective stewardship (for instance, voting on the resale of the land and dissolution of the local DAO).
Fourth token issued on a smart contract capable blockchain: ERC20 token – Veto – VETO. For public authorities, granting them special powers to block projects deemed problematic, in order to secure support from skeptical local authorities, and ensuring their involvement and participation in setting up and running the collective stewardship.
Back-end/hosting: Sia Network (Sia Skynet), or the Hypha/Seeds ecosystem on Telos.
Multiple DAOs managing stablecoins, Ethereum, Telos, KOMO, Seeds, Sia, or any other crypto-asset.
Global DAO split in different parts generating yield via DeFi protocols across multiple blockchains. For example: locking ETH into staking, creating a liquidity staking pool on Terra with stablecoins etc.
Interface
Android and iOS applications
Online interface
Protocols
Web-of-Trust.
Polis.io or Hypha for governance and community management.
Dynamic price adjustment for certain actions (such as the cost of submitting a new project).
ICO and tokenomics (based on raising 500 million $ equivalent in crypto-assets)
500 million pre-minted coins / KOMO tokens created via staking.
500 million NFTs representing shares of the DAO/foundation/corporation.
KOMO coin creation after the ICO: through staking.
Coin burn: through project submissions and any other use of the KOMO token (proposing governance reforms etc).
After the initial ICO, the collected funds will be split between different yield generating Decentralized Finance protocols including ETH 2.0 staking and Terra liquidity pools. The revenue from these protocols will be used to purchase new land periodically and/or to reward investors (NFT holders) via regular payouts.
A certain portion of the funds will be converted to stablecoins, locked in a DeFi contract, to generate revenue to pay for the further development of the DAO and project (human resources, communication, etc).
Finally, a minor portion of collected funds will be held in Bitcoin as reserves, and for tokenomics purposes (support the value of KOMO)
Use cases of KOMO
Any user wishing to submit a proposal for purchasing a land must hold and stake a minimum amount of KOMO tokens. The more KOMO one holds, the more weight his/her proposal has in the priority of lands to buy. KOMO holders can propose a land for purchase (only if they have done all the necessary arrangements, such as contacting the local authorities and ensuring that the legal and administrative processes are cleared) or vote on the priority of land purchase based on a number of proposals put forward by the global DAO staff.
Any user wishing to submit a proposal for building something on a collective stewardship land must pay a fee in KOMO (price adjusted algorithmically – KOMO token burned).
Any user wishing to vote on the governance and evolution of the collective stewardship project, and the governance of the global DAO must hold and stake a minimum amount of KOMO tokens.
KOMO will be staked to maintain the KOMO blockchain, in order to record transactions and other data into the KOMO blockchain.
10% of the total price for the realization of any project must be collected and paid in KOMO (90% in other coins such as stablecoins).
Initial launch of the KOMO blockchain
First step: Initial Coin Offering combined with launch of a liquidity pool on Terra.
Creation of the global DAO which will manage the collected funds from the ICO, the Terra liquidity pools and other assets from the ICO (stablecoins locked in DeFi etc)
Distribution of KOMO tokens with an obligation to hold and stake for a period of 6 months to a year.
Distribution of NFT on a 1/1 equivalent to KOMO to initial investors. NFTs represent a portion of the global DAO locked funds, and give the right to receive future KOMO airdrops.
Initial investors can vote on first plots of land to purchase (reaching out to public authorities is highly recommended to facilitate and accelerate the process).
Project’s lawyers to liaise with public authorities to obtain permission to set up a collective stewardship on the lands selected by the initial investors.
Distribution of Stewardship tokens (ERC20) – STWD – to the citizens of the city, and campaign to ensure they sign up and download the Android or iOS app, or register on the online platform interface.
Creation of Web-of-Trust network between the citizens to activate the STWD tokens and ensure their validity (expire every year, need to be renewed with WoT network). A valid STWD is a precondition for accessing features of the app/online interface: proposing new projects, vote on submitted projects, vote on various governance issues and collective management of the collective stewardship.
Creation of the local DAO which is managed via the STWD token. Sending money to the DAO and retrieving funds from the DAO requires a vote of a certain portion of the total distributed STWD token holders based on different parameters (spending limits, liquidation of the fund etc).
Public authorities are granted a special token, VETO, which grants them special powers such as to block an initiative proposed by the citizens, or dissolve the collective stewardship under certain conditions (a decrease of over 90% in valid STWD tokens compared to the initial creation). This token does not have to be renewed via the Web-of-Trust.
Submission of the first projects to build on the collective stewardship land (possession of staked KOMO tokens is a pre-requisite).
The global DAO will also fund an initial project to incentivize citizens and local associations to proactively take an interest in the project (up to 20.000€).
Citizens holding a valid STWD token can vote on the projects submitted, and send funds to the DAO in order to pay for the realization of the project (for instance, building a children’s playground on the collective stewardship land).
Promoter of the project is granted right to spend the money collected via the DAO within a given timeframe, to pay for the realization of the project.
App/interface requires project promoter to report on advancements of the project every week/month to receive payment broken down in several instalments.
KOMO NFTs
Issued on a 1/1 ratio during the initial ICO.
They represent a share of the value of funds managed by the global DAO/foundation/corporation (similar to a wrapped ETH or BTC)
Holding a KOMO NFT grants rights to receive KOMO airdrops
If a land is sold, the proceeds go to the global DAO which redistributes the proceeds of the sales as KOMO airdrops by repurchasing KOMO
Communities willing to have full autonomy of their collective stewardship land can repurchase the land at the initial sales price adjusted to inflation. The proceeds are converted into KOMO by the DAO and airdropped to NFT holders. Such communities then become fully autonomous and independent from the global DAO (they now own the bare property as well as the usufruct)
Any resale of an NFT is subject to a 10% fee which goes to the global DAO.
STWD tokens
Represents the usufruct right to a piece of collective stewardship land.
Maintained via a web-of-trust system.
Grants right to submit a project and vote on projects.
Grants right to spend money of the local DAO.
Grants right to vote on selling the land and terminating the collective stewardship. (proceeds of the sale sent back to the global DAO, unless the community has repurchased enough NFTs to be autonomous).
Grants right to vote on the acquisition of new land (and therefore, the creation of new NFTs).
Grants right to vote on the local governance rules of the collective stewardship and management of the local DAO.
Features
The apps and online interface would have several features:
Issue certifications to keep STWD valid for other users, via a Web-of-Trust system.
Submit project proposals, in a similar format to crowdfunding, for a vote.
Vote on submitted proposals.
Managing a KOMO wallet, which includes sending/receiving KOMO and staking KOMO.
Monitoring the local DAO, set up for managing the collective stewardship land, and voting on spending the money available inside the local DAO.
Send money to the local DAO.
Integration of Polis.io or Hypha to facilitate decision making process and deliberation.
Chat feature to discuss projects proposed (?) (Or perhaps, link to Discord for this?)
Specific app/interface for public authorities giving them certain special rights.
Focus on coding, construction, engineering, and creating the tools, projects, buildings, etc.
These roles in a DHO focus on the physical construction of a project.
Focus on exploring, experimenting, and architecting new systems, tools, villages, food forests, and any other process of a project
Focus on discovering what the community and project most needs, and designing pathways to how we can best provide it.
Focus on facilitating healthy spaces to co-create within. Creating and maintaining processes for tension evolution and actively monitoring and supporting the health of the community. These are the people roles that help the whole project run smoothly.
Focus on the people, community building, org processes, hosting events, etc... and the human structures of a DHO/team/village itself.
Building bridges, nurturing connections, creating alliances, helping others join the project you're making, etc. Anything that supports healthy expansion. Catalyst roles are also the foundational role for setting up a new project.
Focus on growing the projects' impact.
Creating engaging, inspiring and beautiful invitations and descriptions of what a project is doing. Creating visions of the more beautiful world we're co-creating.
Crowdfunding/crowdpooling Financial compensation of any proposed project would emulate the mechanisms of crowdfunding. Any person can propose his/her services and the community decides to fund his proposal or not.
Example: a local association wants to convert a piece of land into a permaculture farm. It creates a proposal along with "perks" for the community (for instance, a basket of fresh vegetables or fruit). The association is transparent about the salaries, compensations and costs associated with the project and the community decides whether to fund it or not.
Moderator Badge - +5% Voice Multiplier +2.5% Village Token Multiplier
Enroller Badge - +10% Voice Multiplier +5% Village Token Multiplier
Facilitator Badge - +10% Voice Multiplier +5% Village Token Multiplier
Treasurer Badge - +10% Voice Multiplier +5% Village Token Multiplier
PREPARE
Select your launch template choosing the options above or providing your own.
Ensure there are enough existing members committed to filling all the initial roles necessary to successfully run and develop the global and local DHO/DAO before initiating launch week.
LAUNCH WEEK
Conduct a "Launch Week" where all members are able to propose assignments to the initial roles decide who the initial role and badge holders will be (this is of vital importance as these initial roles have outsized influence on the fate of the project) and membership needs to make these decisions wisely.
Empower role holders to carry the organization forward.
