URKU MISSION: ECUADOR/CHILE/UK

URKU means Mountain in Andean Kichwa Language. Photo: Roberto F. "Chino" Salazar-Córdova The Andes and the global water cycle are intertwined. Huss and Hock published (January 2018, almost 7 years ago), in "Nature Climate Change": "Global-scale hydrological response to future glacier mass loss". They analyzed more than half a hundred water basins around the world, and concluded the following: "Most of the 56 basins have less than 2% ice coverage"... "By 2100 one-third of them might experience runoff decreases greater than 10% due to glacier mass loss"... "With the largest reductions in central Asia and the Andes". Photo: Roberto F. "Chino" Salazar-Córdova Iberdrola has published the following 4 costs associated with this trend: Rising sea levels Glacier melt has contributed to oceans rising by 2.7 centimeters since 1961. In addition, the world's glaciers hold enough ice - some 170,000 cubic kilometers - to raise sea levels by almost half a meter. Impact on the climate Glacier melt at the poles is slowing ocean currents, a phenomenon linked to the alteration of the world's climate and the succession of increasingly extreme weather events around the globe. Disappearance of species Glacier melt will also lead to the extinction of many species, as it is the natural habitat of many land and aquatic animals. Less fresh water The disappearance of glaciers also means less water for the population's consumption, less capacity to generate hydroelectric energy, and less availability for irrigation. Photo: Roberto F. "Chino" Salazar-Córdova ECUADOR, CHILE, AND THE UK Ecuador is highly vulnerable to climate change. According to INAMHI, the country is experiencing the worst drought in 61 years, with heat waves becoming more intense and frequent. This situation, particularly prevalent in the Sierra, has facilitated the rapid spread of fires. Chile, until last year, had a drought and this 2024 it had hurricanes. 2022 ended with below-average rainfall, marking 14 consecutive years of drought in Chile. This data provided by the Ministry of the Environment and the Meteorological Directorate of Chile (DMC) shows the impacts of climate change in the country. The U.K. has been experiencing prolonged periods of drought after wet winters. That’s causing the porous rock beneath vast parts of southeast England, including London, to move more than usual, cracking or tilting many of the city’s historic homes in the most upmarket neighborhoods. The damage has led to the highest insurance payout in nearly two decades, and experts warn it could get worse. Photo: Roberto F. "Chino" Salazar-Córdova ARTIFICIAL (MAYBE NOT SO COST-EFFECTIVE) SOLUTIONS Iberdrola points out some possible solutions that require impact investment in the Andes, financed by the major global financial centers. "Glaciologists believe that, despite the massive loss of ice, we still have time to save the glaciers from an announced disappearance. In the following lines, we reveal some ideas and proposals that could help achieve this goal": Stop climate change To safeguard the glaciers it is essential to reduce global CO2 emissions by 45% in the next decade and to zero after 2050 to stop global warming. Stop erosion The scientific journal Nature suggested building a 100-metre dam in front of the Jakobshavn glacier (Greenland), the most affected by the melting of the Arctic, to contain its erosion. Join artificial icebergs An Indonesian architect, Faris Rajak Kotahatuhaha, was awarded for his project Refreeze the Arctic, which consists of collecting water from melted glaciers, desalinating it, and freezing it again to create large hexagonal blocks of ice. Thanks to their shape, these icebergs could join together and form ice masses. Increasing their thickness The University of Arizona proposed a seemingly simple solution: making more ice. Its proposal consists of collecting water from beneath the glacier using wind-powered pumps to spread it over the upper layers of ice, so that it freezes on the surface, reinforcing its consistency. Photo: Roberto F. "Chino" Salazar-Córdova COST-EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS: BASED ON NATURE Fundación Chile has written about the concept of Nature-Based Solutions or NBS. It began to be used in international organizations in the first decade of this century, so it is still quite new and not entirely clear to a large part of the public. It refers, however, to actions directly related to ecosystems, that is, to the nature that surrounds us, and whose positive impact affects people's daily lives. Broadly speaking, NBS are actions related to the management and sustainable use of natural characteristics and processes, particularly aimed at ensuring that ecosystems function healthily so that they can deliver the "services" that they naturally provide to the planet. Services of: provision, regulation, ecological balance, and even cultural services. In other words, it is about taking advantage of the enormous capacity of natural cycles for the benefit of all forms of life, currently threatened by the Climate Crisis and limiting the negative consequences of human interventions on the environment. One of the organizations that has highlighted this concept is the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which defines NBS as follows: “All those interventions aimed at protecting, restoring and sustainably managing ecosystems, as a way of addressing society's challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and benefits for biodiversity” (IUCN, 2016). Photo: Roberto F. "Chino" Salazar-Córdova URKU AS A NECESSARY NBS URKU (TOKEN) follows the IUCN definition of “addressing society's challenges in an effective and adaptive manner.” Kayambi People is working together with "El Ordeño" (a certified "B" Corp). They have received pre-investment in Ecuador from Chile (Red Santa Cruz, Impact Investment Fund). Global investors, especially British ones, have dialogued in Quito, Santiago, Cayambe, and all over Ecuador and the Andes, to face the multiple and urgent challenges by taking care of the Urkus. Photo: Roberto F. "Chino" Salazar-Córdova After the Carbon Forum of Chile (October 2024), an Urku Mission has joined the Kayambi People, together with the Pasto People (in Ecuador and Colombia), Kitu-Kara People (near Quito), Panzaleo People (near Latacunga), Montubio People (Pacific Coast), and Achuar People (in the Amazonia of Ecuador and Peru), and a team of Ecuadorean, Chilean, British, and Indian experts. Photo: Roberto F. "Chino" Salazar-Córdova Urku B, emitted already in 2024, will cover urgent social needs (in Ecuador, under internal war) and will be traded during 2025-2029 for Urku A (including carbon and water). Urku A can be highlighted as an NBS using Tokens tech for traceability of impact and benefits distributed: 60% equity of Indigenous Peoples, 20% equity of local B Corps, and 20% equity of foreign direct global investors. Photo: Roberto F. "Chino" Salazar-Córdova This financial mechanism will achieve water security, guaranteeing the availability of water required for human well-being, for socioeconomic development (irrigation and sustainable production) and ensure the maintenance of local water ecosystems in place, impacting at a global scale. Local water security is a global business: it acts to prevent or reduce the effects of extreme hydrometeorological regional or global phenomena, such as flooding due to rain, avalanches, storm surges, etc. "According to data from the United Nations, 2.2 billion people worldwide (more than a quarter of the population) lack access to safely managed drinking water services (WHO/UNICEF, 2019), 2 billion people live in countries that suffer from water shortages - including Chile - (UN 2019), and 90% of natural disasters are related to water (UNISDR)". Photo: Roberto F. "Chino" Salazar-Córdova INVESTING IN URKU The need to invest in Andean Urkus (Tokens) is derived largely from the financial need to adapt the economic model implemented worldwide at the end of the 18th century, which is based on the excessive exploitation of natural resources, use of fossil fuels, and other ancient practices, largely responsible for climate change, extra costs, lack of growth, poverty, and nowadays global economic crash. Urku ameliorates the old development model via impact investment, getting it connected to the cycles of nature, preventing (in Ecuador) and/or solving (in Chile) the seriously degraded capacity of ecosystems in the Andes. The avoided damage will have a strong positive impact on the functioning of the natural cycle, particularly on water, which directly affects the availability of water for all uses and increases water risk, avoiding the probability of floods, avalanches, and other disasters, and assuring the availability of food. Agri-business, hence, is expected to be part of the solution, via Urku. Photo: Roberto F. "Chino" Salazar-Córdova PEACE VIA PROFITABLE INVESTMENT In this context, Urku B is linked to financial guarantees that pay 8% profit in US Dollars per annum (only in guarantees). Investing in Urkus is expected to guarantee, directly from Indigenous Communities, the payments for their services of care for Carbon and Water Sustainability, in their lands. The minimum profits expected, have a minimum IRR of 18.4% (plus 8% implicit profit from the guarantee, if the investor is associated with the project). Deal-Maker: Roberto F. "Chino" Salazar-Córdova Out of the financial virtues, Urku will urgently protect ecosystems, restore those that are damaged, and manage them sustainably so that the Andes do not continue to degrade. Deal-Maker: Roberto F. "Chino" Salazar-Córdova URKU: A NBS TOKEN MAINLY OWNED BY ANDEAN INDIGENOUS GROUPS As explained, investing in URKUs NBS tokens is not only relevant, but wise. URKUS aims to solve these problems through comprehensive interventions in harmony with nature, to recover its cycles and once again have the essential services provided by healthy sacred ecosystems. Photo: Roberto F. "Chino" Salazar-Córdova In this sense, URKU Tokens, as Nature-Based Solutions, are consistent with a change towards the new sustainable development financial model of the Andes. https://urku.vercel.app/es/token Photo: Roberto F. "Chino" Salazar-Córdova BUY URKU AND/OR LEARN MORE: https://urku.vercel.app/en/token#swap https://www.adnplus.co.uk/ https://urku.vercel.app/es