Decentralized solutions are creating economic opportunities and revolutionizing people’s access to clean water in parts of India. On Wednesday, Mercy Corp Ventures’ Crypto for Good Fund and the Crypto Council for Innovation released a report on a series of Web3 pilot projects targeting developing countries.
One project from Atlantis DAO, a peer-to-peer network for people working to fight climate change, stood out for its success in improving access to clean water in rural, drought-prone regions of India. The pilot lasted eleven months and focused on creating a decentralized peer-to-peer water network in India to provide rural communities with access to clean water.
Here’s how it works. Using a mobile app with gamified elements, users were able to accept challenges related to clean water production, filtration, and testing. They could also purchase clean water that was validated through the app and be compensated with tokens for participating.
The goal was to utilize blockchain and smart contract technologies to incentivize behavior related to water production, like testing, collecting, and distributing. By using an auditable blockchain-based ledger, transparency and security were also improved.
According to the report from the Crypto Council, the pilot program served a population of around 45,000 and had nearly 4,000 active participants. Not only did it improve people’s access to clean water, but it also created 440 new jobs, 30% of which were held by women.
As India’s population has surged by around a billion over the past six decades, people’s access to clean water, especially in rural, drought-prone regions, has diminished significantly. This has led to an increase in school dropout rates, as many are forced to abandon their education in search of work.
The Crypto Council noted that decentralization was critical for re-imagining resource coordination, creating new jobs, and making access to clean water more affordable and efficient.
NFT Projects for Good Causes
While it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of price movements and speculation in the crypto space, the success of the pilot program from Atlantis DAO shows that Web3 technologies can also be used to do good. But this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Web3 projects focused on fighting climate change and improving the world.
For example, in 2023, several carbon credit organizations began tokenizing credits and putting them on the blockchain. Carbon credit tokenization has a myriad of benefits, including increased security, transparency, and liquidity when it comes to trading the credits. It also makes purchasing carbon credits more accessible to the average person.
Here are some of the organizations that are working in this sector:
- Moss
- Toucon
- KlimaDAO
- AirCarbonExchange
As the world comes together to address climate change, some people believe nascent technologies like the blockchain, NFTs, tokenization, smart contracts, and cryptocurrencies could be the key to fighting back. The latest report from the Crypto Council about Atlantis DAO’s efforts to bring safe drinking water to people in India is an excellent example of Web3 tech being used to bring about real change.
To learn more about how Web3 technologies are being used for good around the world, check out our in-depth article How NFTs Are Being Used for Social Impact.
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