Metric, Methodology, Unit. Abstraction 101.

Semantic and ideology busting clarity for the biodiversity market.

I’d love it if everyone working in biodiversity understood the difference between the terms metric, methodology, and unit. It would save sooo much drama!

There is a lot of relatively pointless confusion related to semantics in the biodiversity and biodiversity credit field. And really, nature tech in general. Let’s clear this up so we can communicate:

Three terms. One clear distinction each.

Metric

Means any core measurement. Usually, these have a bit of a scientific protocol to do it right. Like "diameter of tree at breast height" is actually THE core metric in almost all forest carbon, and everything else is calculated from there with allometric equations. But there are some standard instructions for trees (they don't grow in a perfect circle). In biodiversity, "species" might be a metric, but identifying a species is actually very different with different protocols depending on insects, trees, fish, etc.

So raw data, like game camera footage, is converted into a metric like a species observation through a fairly formal process. But what do metrics mean?

Methodology

Is an agreed upon protocol to make MEANING out of metrics. An example is here, our biodiversity methodology.

So for instance Savimbo's Indicator Species Methodology takes game camera footage of a bush dog (one of the rarest species in the Amazon) and has a formal replicable set of instructions to interpret outcomes out of that and say what area has been conserved from analyzing that metric. So how do we compare our outcomes to other people's?

Unit

Is just the final output format. A comparable abstraction.

Different ecosystems and actions need different metrics and methodologies. Analyzing oceans and freshwater systems are different. Jungle is different from desert. These are different actions, different species, and different equipment. The unit is how you compare what you did interoperably with everyone else.

It’s a standard set of expressions. Like we use “hectares” instead of “acres.” This is about how you express your final result so it can be used by electronic systems. The unit we use for area-based biodiversity action is the Interoperable Biodiversity Unit (IBU)

#StopArguingAboutStupidShit

Now people get really angry about other people’s metrics and methodologies.

For us, we don’t really care. We just ask them, because they are the experts in their fields, to EXPRESS their work in a format that can ALSO express ours. Works in electronic databases, AND is good for buyers and Indigenous Peoples to understand.

(I swear this is not ideological, but you realize how many people never left their teenage traumas about authority when you impose something as rigorous as interoperability on the world.)

This means you have to accept the core premise that humans need to work together on planet problems. And many humans have NOT accepted that premise, while still trying to work on planet problems.

Which is their choice.

Our choice is to focus on what we DO agree on. Which is here in this article.

Responsibility

There is a responsibility to being a scientist. Richard Feynman taught me that. He built the A-bomb out of pure love of reason and math, then paid a steep price when his work was misused.

We study things to be experts, and then people consult us, and we need to tell the truth — and be humble about it.

Buyers and Indigenous Peoples don’t always have the same level of responsibility to assess internal integrity of metrics and methodologies. That is most commonly the job of certifiers and ratings agencies who have the technical capacity to see when protocols, or sensors, are flawed or limited and where.

It’s really important that we use units for nature itself. Not what it’s worth to humans in $$$, but what is it worth to ALL species on the planet.

It would really help if people understood the difference between these three things BEFORE they start to argue, and used the same terms so we can actually compare our work.

We have a responsibility to do our best on this stuff, right now.