AVID expands its retail climate impact investment portfolio with inclusion of Nii Kaniti Rainforest protection project

AVID announces its purchase of carbon credits from indigenous communities of Nii Kaniti, a forest management project which protects Amazon Rainforest.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, UNITED STATES, December 18, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ — AVID Climate LLC announces its purchase of carbon credits from the Shipibo Conibo and Cacataibo indigenous communities of the Ucayali Region (Nii Kaniti), a forest management project which protects almost 120,000 hectares of critical rainforest in the Amazon Rainforest.

AVID, the climate-focused fintech company, offers fractionalized investment assets, AVID Climate Units (ACUs) which are in part comprised of tons of avoided carbon from Nii Kaniti, to the retail market. With the app, AVID aims to broaden access to various themes in the carbon market – which has historically been limited to accredited and institutional investors – so that individuals can make self-directed investments in high quality climate impact

initiatives.

Nii Kaniti will prevent the emissions of 2.7 million tonnes of CO2 over the first ten years of its 20-year lifetime, validated and verified under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS). Many indigenous people living in the remote Ucayali Region, reachable by boat from the Ucayali River, depend on the forest, yet remain in poverty and social exclusion. The Nii Kaniti project supports seven communities through improving community forest management, creating resilience through protection and conservation of their lands.

“AVID’s vision is to empower wider access for both individuals and organizations to invest in climate solutions and potentially earn returns on their investments, thereby driving rapid funding for climate initiatives,” says AVID CEO Iain Clarke. “Collectively, small changes add up to a big impact. To reverse the climate crisis, we need additional avenues that allow more people to get involved in climate action and multiply the positive impact. AVID is working on this by democratizing climate impact investing.” 

Nii Kaniti means ‘forest and development’ in the indigenous language local to the Ucayali region of central Peru. The project prioritizes indigenous-led development, scaling up sustainable community forest management to improve the livelihoods of seven remote indigenous communities on the edge of the Peruvian Amazon. By preventing land invasions for unsustainable agriculture, illegal use of forest resources, and land grabs, it protects 120,000 hectares of threatened forest, home to animals such as jaguars, macaws, and tapirs.

A distinctive feature is a social enterprise, Nii Biri, which is a hub for indigenous economic activities. It is run by local and indigenous people and supports business administration, scaling of production, and improved market access for local producers.

Investment in the Nii Kaniti project aims to make a positive climate impact in addition to other co-benefits that include: 127,004 hectares of threatened forest protected, 5 threatened species protected, including the Jaguar, Blue-headed Macaw and Tapir, and 357 jobs created or supported in areas such as FSC timber extraction and agroforestry.

About AVID

AVID is a San Francisco and London-based fin tech and climate impact company, established in 2021 by technology leaders, bringing together expertise in carbon markets, investment platforms, and quantum data. AVID is an innovator in fractionalized investing in the climate impact space and is focused on creating a highly disruptive, socially-driven climate impact platform. Learn more at https://avid.ooo.

Oliver Martin
AVID
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