Bioregions—areas defined by natural boundaries rather than political ones—offer a holistic and sustainable framework that aligns human activities with the natural systems that sustain us. As we face unprecedented global challenges, building our capabilities in bioregional organizing has become crucial for creating resilient, sustainable communities.

The bioregional movement is gaining momentum, with innovative initiatives sprouting across the globe, including:

• The BioFi Project is cultivating a community of practice around bioregional financing, leveraging collective expertise to catalyze broader bioregional organizing.
• Ashoka's Bioregional Weaving Labs is mobilizing European changemakers to regenerate landscapes at a bioregional scale.
• The Design School for Regenerating the Earth is fostering bioregional communities in Colombia, the US, and beyond.
• Bioregional Builders is bridging the gap between bioregional organizers and technologists, aiming to host a series of Bioregional Hackathons in 2025.

This research initiative aims to support and accelerate this growing movement. By bringing together diverse networks of practitioners, documenting successful practices, and identifying critical gaps, we seek to boost the adoption of bioregional approaches across communities, economies, and ecosystems. Our goal goes beyond documenting best practices—we aim to pinpoint critical needs and opportunities that can guide ongoing research and development in this field. By bridging theory and practice, we strive to equip communities, organizers, and innovators with the tools they need to reimagine our relationship with the landscapes we inhabit. This work is about laying the groundwork for a fundamental shift in how we steward our planet and create thriving, harmonious communities within nature's boundaries.

Project Overview

Research Objectives

• Catalyze Bioregional Synergy: Connect networks of projects operating at the bioregional level, creating a collaborative platform for knowledge exchange and mutual support.
• Unearth Best Practices: Support documentation of successful bioregional coordination patterns that are driving positive change across different landscapes.
• Identify Gaps & Needs: Perform an analysis of current gaps, challenges, and needs within the bioregional movement, providing crucial insights to guide future development.

Expected Outcomes

• A database hosting research findings, tools, and resources, designed to facilitate ongoing learning and collaboration within the bioregional community.
• A map of opportunity areas identified during the research process, primed for future hackathons, pilot testing, and scaling efforts.

Process

Stakeholder Engagement

• Engage networks of bioregional projects such as BioFi and Bioregional Weaving Labs. Process Documentation & Resource Creation
• Support the documentation of bioregional protocols across stakeholder networks
• Conduct interviews with key stakeholders to understand needs and processes Gap Analysis
• Pinpoint critical needs and opportunities in a visual format
• Share with stakeholders and get feedback Action Planning and Next Steps
• Plan for initiatives addressing those needs and building on successes
• Harness findings to support Bioregional Builders’ planned hackathons in 2025

Who We Are

Research Team

• Scott Morris of FoxFire
• Andrea Farias of Diome
• Magenta Ceiba of Bloom Network
• Samantha Power of BioFi.earth
• Tyler Wakefield of BioFi.earth
• Cameron Burgess of Armillaria.io
• rathermercurial.eth of SuperBenefit
• Monty of ReFiDAO & Celo Public Goods
• Luiz of ReFiDAO & Trusted Seed
• Darren Zal of Web of Trust
• More Reese of SuperBenefit
• Elizabeth Herald of Watershed Wisdom Council

Aligned Projects

• Open Civics
• Bioregional Builders
• ReFi DAO
• Bloom Network
• BioFi Project
• Web of Trust
• SuperBenefit
• Watershed Wisdom Council