About Guardian Connector

Guardian Connector is a free and open-source Indigenous data sovereignty platform for communities to securely centralize, access, and derive insights from their environmental and cultural data. Developed through collaboration between Indigenous communities, Conservation Metrics, and technical partners, Guardian Connector addresses the unique challenges faced by communities on the frontlines of protecting their territories.

Why Guardian Connector Exists

Digital technology plays a key role in helping people gather information needed to make better decisions about community well-being and ecosystem health. However, many off-the-shelf tech solutions fail to meet the needs of Indigenous and other local communities with place-anchored relationships that protect over 80% of the world's biodiversity and over 35% of the world's intact forest landscapes.

Guardian Connector is designed to meet the unique needs and challenges of Indigenous partners, including:

🛡️ Data Sovereignty: Complete ownership and control over community data

📊 Biocultural Metrics: Access to indicators that reflect Indigenous perspectives on well-being

🔗 Multi-tool Integration: Easy use of datasets from multiple monitoring and data collection tools

⚡ Real-time Alerts: Near real-time notifications about territorial incursions and environmental changes

🏠 On-premises Storage: Data stored on infrastructure that communities own entirely

♻️ Long-term Sustainability: A platform designed to serve communities independently without dependency on outside support

Who is Building Guardian Connector

Guardian Connector is being co-created by Conservation Metrics, Inc. in close partnership with (and with funding from) Nia Tero, and a number of Indigenous partner organizations.