Last reviewed: January 2026
terra0
The Self-Owning Forest
ActiveEcological DAO
53
/70 Total
Score Profile
Dimension Scores
Score Rationale
Persistence — Active since 2016 (10 years); exhibitions and research continuing; survived entire crypto arc from pre-ICO to post-NFT. 'Institutional.'
Autonomy — Designed for autonomous forest management; current implementation is research/exhibition focused with human curation of outputs. Above 'Cyborg,' below 'Sovereign.'
Cultural Impact — Ars Electronica, academic citations, influenced entire discourse on non-human agency and ecological DAOs. Near 'Canonical.'
Economic Reality — Conceptual project with minimal economic activity; grant-funded, no significant revenue generation. Between 'Cost Center' and 'Revenue Positive.'
Governance — Smart contract-based governance model; publicly documented decision framework. Strong 'Constitutional.'
Technical Distinctiveness — Pioneered smart contract environmental governance before the concept existed. Novel architecture, though not fully deployed at scale.
Narrative Coherence — 'Self-owning forest' concept is immediately graspable and philosophically rich. Strong 'Character' with conceptual depth.
Curator Notes
The canonical Elder of the autonomous entity space. terra0 proposed the concept of a self-owning forest before NFTs, DAOs, or the current AI wave existed. It asked: can a forest own itself and sell its own lumber to fund its expansion? While its economic velocity is low (3), its Persistence (10) and Cultural Impact (9) make it a foundational pillar. terra0 established the conceptual vocabulary that subsequent projects inherited.
Evidence Archive
Score History
Score history will appear here after future reviews.
Current score: 53/70