Ecosystem first, modest income base case

Context

What the project runs on financially. The model weighs revenue options by realism (see economics/revenue).

Decision (proposed)

Base case: founder capacity plus modest near-term income — research access, education, small grants, donations. Treat carbon credits, energy sales, and tourism as upside, never the plan.

Why

Speculative income has sunk small projects before, and the ecosystem, not a revenue stream, is the point. Carbon markets in particular are slow and easy to oversell at our scale.

Constraints

No large capital, two part-time people, a long horizon.

Revisit when

A concrete scheme — a real payments-for-ecosystem-services programme, a funded partnership — makes an income line dependable.