Course overview

About the playbook

A workshop guide for AI governed by communities.

This is the playbook we use in GainForest workshops with Indigenous and local communities, along with the field partners and builders who work on ecological data infrastructure.

It turns the Data is Soil idea into work people can do in a room: they name extraction patterns, draw boundaries before collection, write AI agent rules a community can hold, and connect those rules to Bumicerts, Taina, and AudioMoth deployments.

How we use it in workshops

The lessons become decisions in the room.

01

Name the frame

We start with the metaphor: is this dataset being treated like oil to extract, or like soil that needs care and clear limits?

02

Make authority visible

Before anyone introduces tools, participants map who decides about collection, review, modelling, correction, benefit, and withdrawal.

03

Turn principles into protocol

By the end, participants have things they can use: boundary statements, agent rules, refusal pathways, Bumicerts, Taina constitutions, and AudioMoth deployment protocols.

Workshop history

Field notes from the work that shaped this playbook.

The course is a working draft because the practice is still alive. These GainForest field notes show the workshops, deployments, councils, prototypes, and community conversations behind the materials here.

Jan to Jul 2024 · Amazonas, Brazil

GainForest's journey with ETH BiodivX

How the workshop practice grew alongside biodiversity fieldwork.

Read on Substack ↗

Oct 2024 · Cagwait, Surigao del Sur, Philippines

Deploying the AudioMoth with Oceanus

Field notes on bioacoustic monitoring as community data work.

Read on Substack ↗

Apr 2024 · Amazon Rainforest / Manaus, Brazil

Meet Taina, GainForest's new AI bot

A first look at AI assistance governed by communities.

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Jul 2024 · Amazon, Brazil & Philippines partner network

Introducing the GainForest Data Council

The governance layer behind consent, pricing, review, and withdrawal.

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Jul 2024 · Amazonas, Brazil

Indigenous field notes from biodiversity work

Reflections on conservation led by communities and data stewardship.

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Jun 2025 · Tsunza Peninsula & Ukunda, coastal Kenya

From field visit to Ecocert

Turning field visits into portable proof of ecological impact.

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Feb 2026 · Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia

Field notes from Sabah

Rethinking conservation practice through local knowledge and protocols.

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14 Feb 2026 · Kampala, Uganda

Uganda's green leaders take on Web3

How local conservation leaders explored new tools for coordination.

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Jun 2025 · Magadi / Olkiramatian, Kenya's South Rift

Grounded conservation and growing

What conservation looks like when it begins from place and relationship.

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15 to 23 Jan 2025 · Surigao del Sur, Philippines

Cash or crypto? Fintech and conservation

Lessons from conservation payments and practical infrastructure in the Philippines.

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Apr 2025 · Kilifi, Kenya

Weaving culture and technology

Lessons on technology that stays accountable to culture and community.

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Bring it into practice

Use the playbook. Change it. Tell us what the room refused.

Write back to GainForest