Nature-positive from the ground up: the ECX platform for community-led action

The East Coast Exchange (ECX) is a platform for nature-positive innovation – born from adversity, powered by opportunity. After extreme weather events in the East Coast region of Aotearoa New Zealand, ECX was created in 2023 to mobilise investment for community-led nature-based solutions. ECX uses digital infrastructure developed by the Toha Network to provide access to State of Nature (SoN) data from Māori-owned land at Te Kautuku, which demonstrates consent-based data sharing for corporate disclosures and verification of claimable impacts. This panel discussion explains how the ECX works, how it uplifts Indigenous data sovereignty, and how it demonstrates the potential for the 8 Billion Hour Pledge.