3.7 KiB
Zoo Partnerships
Date: 2025-12-15 Source: 2021 Whitepaper §25 ("Partnerships"). Cross-ref: ZIP-0530 (Community Partnerships, FPIC).
1. Conservation NGOs (V1 Catalogue Partners)
Per the 2021 species catalogue (§18), the Foundation maintains active or active-pending partnerships with the following non-profits. Status is reviewed quarterly under ZIP-0530.
| Species | Partner Organization | Region |
|---|---|---|
| Red Wolf | Wolf Conservation Center; Defenders of Wildlife | USA |
| Amur Leopard | WWF Russia; ALTA (Amur Leopard & Tiger Alliance) | Russian Far East |
| Nubian Giraffe | Giraffe Conservation Foundation | East Africa |
| Sumatran Elephant | WWF Indonesia; Sumatran Elephant Conservation Initiative | Indonesia |
| Pygmy Hippo | ZSL West Africa Programme; IUCN SSC Pygmy Hippo Specialist Group | West Africa |
| Javan Rhino | International Rhino Foundation; Save the Rhino | Indonesia |
| Siberian Tiger | WCS Russia; Panthera | Russian Far East |
| Emperor Penguin | British Antarctic Survey; Pew Antarctic Project | Antarctica |
Cross-reference: papers/zoo-conservation-mission/sections/02-species-catalogue.tex.
2. Multilateral Frameworks
Zoo aligns with and reports against the following frameworks (ZIP-0550, Conservation Standards Alignment):
- IUCN Red List — species classification source of truth.
- CITES — Appendices I/II/III for trade-status verification.
- Global Biodiversity Framework — 2030 targets.
- GBIF — open biodiversity data publication standard (ZIP-0601).
- WWF / WCS / ZSL / Panthera — field-operations partners.
3. Technical Stack Partners
| Partner | Role | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Lux Industries | Chain infrastructure (Quasar 3.0, A/B/M/F/Z chains) | LP-020, LP-134 |
| Hanzo AI Inc (Techstars '17) | AI compute (Hanzo Network, Zen models, Hanzo AI Chain) | Hanzo AI Chain whitepaper |
These are the named technical partners. Zoo is OSS; the broader ecosystem participates as community, not as named partner.
4. Research and Academic Partners
Through the Zoo Research Coordination DAO (ZIP-0603) and Decentralized Peer Review (ZIP-0604), the Foundation maintains research-program partnerships with academic institutions on a per-grant basis. Specific institutional partners are listed in the Annual Impact Report.
5. Educational Partners
The Educational AI Pillar (papers/zoo-foundation-mission/,
Pillar II) operates through the Avatar Tutors program (ZIP-0008).
Educational partners are named per cohort in the Annual Impact Report.
6. Partnership Framework
ZIP-0530 (Community Partnerships, FPIC) is the canonical framework for partnership intake. Every named partnership requires:
- Free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) of the local community for in-situ partnerships.
- Public registration on the Partnership Registry (Zoo L1 contract).
- Quarterly review of impact metrics under ZIP-0501.
- Sunset clauses with renewal vote (DAO).
- Conflict-of-interest disclosure (DAO board members and contributors).
7. The Power of Decentralization (§25)
The 2021 paper's closing line on partnerships:
"The power of decentralization."
We honour this by: never accepting exclusive partnerships that bind the protocol; never paywalling protocol features to a partner's infrastructure; always publishing partner data through the Open Biodiversity Database Standard (ZIP-0601). Partners are amplifiers, not gatekeepers.
8. Cross-References
- 2021 Whitepaper §25.
- ZIP-0530 (Community Partnerships, FPIC).
- ZIP-0550 (Conservation Standards Alignment).
- ZIP-0601 (Open Biodiversity Database Standard).
papers/zoo-conservation-mission/.papers/zoo-foundation-mission/.