Answers to

The Union of Nature (UON) is a worldwide group of nature protection organizations (NPOs) collaborating in a trust framework to accelerate nature protection at scale.

At the heart of our proposition is the ‘uon’, a unique digital proof of protection of a sustainably protected geocoded unit of nature, registered in your name.

The UON Foundation has a Board of Directors and an independent Board of Trustees, supported by multiple international Board Advisors. We are a member of the IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Yes, UON Foundation is a not-for profit foundation that aims to contribute to the global goal of collectively protecting 50% of the planet by 2050 (50×50).

Our business model is simple: we invite everyone to protect units of nature for €1.20 per unit by donating to us, and collect a ‘uon’, a unique digital proof of protection registered to your name.

€1.00 out of every €1.20 is forwarded to nature protection and charity. That’s 83%. The rest is used for governance, community engagement, and tax.

Uon.Earth, the community-owned for-purpose platform company provides uon.earth, our community engagement platform to empower individuals, companies, and charities to protect the planet together. Meter x meter.

NPOs, or nature protection organizations, are the participants in the UON and protect areas of nature all over the world. The participating NPOs are recognized and reputable organizations in the field of nature, wilderness, or wildlife conservation, protection, or restoration that work not-for-profit and have proven track records.

The business model unlocks an additional long-term revenue stream for participating NPOs. These not-for-profit nature protection organizations receive funds for every uon issued, and contractually commit to bring a new unit of nature under protection on a 1-for-1 basis.

This is how we scale.

We apply the same predefined access criteria to all nature organizations that want to participate in the UON. The main criteria are:

• Not-for-profit organization with a proven track record in nature conservation, protection, or restoration
• Working with local communities or Indigenous Peoples
• Protected area of a minimum of 100 hectares and the ability to scale

The UON was created to empower the private sector, consumers and companies, to contribute to the global goal of protecting 50% of the planet by 2050, with an accessible, accountable, and assured solution for everybody: the geocoded unit of nature with its digital uon Earth token, a proof of protection registered in a person’s name.

A uon is a unique digital proof of protection of a sustainably protected geocoded unit of nature, registered in your name.

The unit of nature offers a simple, tangible, and accessible proposition for contributing directly to the 30×30 and 50×50 goals.

The unit of nature is the singular proposition of UON. Everybody can donate €1.20 to UON Foundation for the protection of a unit of nature, and collect a uon. Protecting units of nature and collecting uon is facilitated on the uon.earth community platform, consisting of the Uon.Earth app and portal.

The uon Earth token can be used by companies in their marketing in many ways. The creative possibilities are endless.

A unit of nature is either 1 m² of land or 9 m² of sea that is protected by a participating NPO and is located in the nature area defined in their contract with the UON Foundation.

Every individual unit of nature is unambiguously defined in a global grid and uniquely geocoded using 3-word codes by What3Words. E.g. ///overhear.sensibly.timbers

Units of nature are protected for more than 30 years (average).

The planet has approx. 510 trillion m². That is 10,000,000,000,000 m².

With just over 11% already protected, we still need to protect about 200 trillion m² in the next decades to reach the global goal of 50% protected by 2050. That is 25,000 m² per person alive today. Or 1,000 m² per person per year for the next 25 years.

Yes. It really is very simple. You can experience our product here.

Collect uon. Protect Earth.

If you are a nature organization with a proven track record in the field of nature, wilderness, wildlife conservation, protection, or restoration, either on land or marine, feel free to connect with us at hello@uon.org.