In August 2024, a family of mountain gorillas in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park received the world’s first cross-species payment. This “interspecies money” could create a new planetary economy that increases non-human participation and encourages solidarity and collaboration among species.
LOS ANGELES/KIGALI – Each year in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, around 25 infant gorillas are named and celebrated in the Kwita Izina ceremony, modeled on the country’s baby-naming tradition. The event, now in its 20th year, attracts world leaders, celebrities, and wildlife champions, and the rangers, trackers, veterinarians, and local communities who protect and care for Rwanda’s gorilla population every day.
Naming gorillas gives them dignity, or agaciro, a Kinyarwanda concept that has underpinned Rwanda’s development journey, including its approach to sustaining its natural economy. But the country’s gorilla population – now growing at 3% per year – also has financial value. What if there were a way to pay these magnificent animals what they are worth?
“Interspecies money” could do just that. This radical new approach provides a mechanism for living creatures – such as Rwanda’s gorillas – to express simple preferences, and creates strong financial incentives for local communities to protect and nurture them. By bestowing economic value on wild animals, trees, and other species, interspecies money increases the opportunity cost of their decline and extinction, and enables the circular flow of resources between humans and non-humans.
Tehanu, led by futurist Jonathan Ledgard, has estimated the financial value of the gorilla population at nearly $1.4 billion – about 10% of Rwanda’s GDP. Tehanu recently worked with the Rwandan government to complete the world’s first cross-species payment. In August 2024, a family of mountain gorillas in the Volcanoes National Park received a digital identity and wallet. Acting as a trustee, Tehanu used artificial intelligence to help identify these animals’ interests, and then made mobile payments to the neighboring citizens who could meet those needs.
Many of the services a gorilla requests through its trustee should boost investment in stewardship and therefore increase incomes for the human populations living alongside and among them. These could include mobile phones and sensors to collect data about the gorillas’ well-being, and extra security to ward off poachers and deforesters. Interspecies money thus enables countries and communities to foster economic growth by protecting, rather than exploiting, biodiversity.
As early adopters, Rwanda’s gorillas are pioneers in what we believe can become a new model for human-wildlife economic collaboration. The main justification for interspecies money is that it largely passes from the beneficiary species to human service providers, because if it does not work for people, it will not work for animals. This requires equity across species and communities.
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Buoyed by the Rwanda pilot’s early results, we recently co-chaired a working group of leading ecologists, ethicists, and AI and finance experts in “Room 15” – the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal on sustainable ecosystems – of the 17 Rooms Initiative. We discussed the technical, governance, and financial needs for expanding interspecies money to 100 species globally by 2030.
Fortunately, many of the technical requirements already exist. Non-humans can acquire a digital wallet linked to their identity – gorillas, for example, are identified by facial and gait characteristics, as well as other markings. AI enables humans to infer other species’ preferences and financial value. And the increasing availability of distributed computing makes it possible to build a data-verification system that markets, governments, and, above all, local communities trust.
Crucial to scaling interspecies money is capital. Philanthropic organizations, multilateral institutions, and governments in the Global North, which already invest more than $16 billion annually in biodiversity, should provide funding for human-wildlife collaboration. A “Bank for Other Species” dedicated to investing in non-human infrastructure – like the World Bank does for humans – should be established to manage these resources.
As a next step, Tehanu plans to pilot interspecies money with elephants in rural India and ancient beech trees in Romania, among other species. Of course, many details must be worked out for such experiments to be effective at scale. Policymakers and stakeholders must create mechanisms to prevent theft and adjudicate ownership disputes, and design a robust selection process for human trustees. Moreover, guardrails are needed to ensure that trustees act as responsible fiduciaries.
Some may object to putting a price on nature. But the environment is already being monetized, and the interests of non-humans are being sidelined. Interspecies money seeks to change that with its vision for a new planetary economy that can support prosperity and equity for people and animals alike. As a form of universal basic capital, interspecies money aims to redistribute billions of dollars in such a way that increases non-human participation in the economy and encourages solidarity and collaboration among species. But that will require us to treat other living creatures with the dignity they deserve.
This commentary draws on insights generated through the 17 Rooms Initiative, convened by the Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings and The Rockefeller Foundation. The views expressed here are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of 17 Rooms, its organizers, or funders.
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LOS ANGELES/KIGALI – Each year in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, around 25 infant gorillas are named and celebrated in the Kwita Izina ceremony, modeled on the country’s baby-naming tradition. The event, now in its 20th year, attracts world leaders, celebrities, and wildlife champions, and the rangers, trackers, veterinarians, and local communities who protect and care for Rwanda’s gorilla population every day.
Naming gorillas gives them dignity, or agaciro, a Kinyarwanda concept that has underpinned Rwanda’s development journey, including its approach to sustaining its natural economy. But the country’s gorilla population – now growing at 3% per year – also has financial value. What if there were a way to pay these magnificent animals what they are worth?
“Interspecies money” could do just that. This radical new approach provides a mechanism for living creatures – such as Rwanda’s gorillas – to express simple preferences, and creates strong financial incentives for local communities to protect and nurture them. By bestowing economic value on wild animals, trees, and other species, interspecies money increases the opportunity cost of their decline and extinction, and enables the circular flow of resources between humans and non-humans.
Tehanu, led by futurist Jonathan Ledgard, has estimated the financial value of the gorilla population at nearly $1.4 billion – about 10% of Rwanda’s GDP. Tehanu recently worked with the Rwandan government to complete the world’s first cross-species payment. In August 2024, a family of mountain gorillas in the Volcanoes National Park received a digital identity and wallet. Acting as a trustee, Tehanu used artificial intelligence to help identify these animals’ interests, and then made mobile payments to the neighboring citizens who could meet those needs.
Many of the services a gorilla requests through its trustee should boost investment in stewardship and therefore increase incomes for the human populations living alongside and among them. These could include mobile phones and sensors to collect data about the gorillas’ well-being, and extra security to ward off poachers and deforesters. Interspecies money thus enables countries and communities to foster economic growth by protecting, rather than exploiting, biodiversity.
As early adopters, Rwanda’s gorillas are pioneers in what we believe can become a new model for human-wildlife economic collaboration. The main justification for interspecies money is that it largely passes from the beneficiary species to human service providers, because if it does not work for people, it will not work for animals. This requires equity across species and communities.
Secure your copy of PS Quarterly: The Year Ahead 2025
The newest issue of our magazine, PS Quarterly: The Year Ahead 2025, is almost here. To gain digital access to all of the magazine’s content, and receive your print copy, upgrade to PS Digital Plus now at a special discounted rate.
Subscribe Now
Buoyed by the Rwanda pilot’s early results, we recently co-chaired a working group of leading ecologists, ethicists, and AI and finance experts in “Room 15” – the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal on sustainable ecosystems – of the 17 Rooms Initiative. We discussed the technical, governance, and financial needs for expanding interspecies money to 100 species globally by 2030.
Fortunately, many of the technical requirements already exist. Non-humans can acquire a digital wallet linked to their identity – gorillas, for example, are identified by facial and gait characteristics, as well as other markings. AI enables humans to infer other species’ preferences and financial value. And the increasing availability of distributed computing makes it possible to build a data-verification system that markets, governments, and, above all, local communities trust.
Crucial to scaling interspecies money is capital. Philanthropic organizations, multilateral institutions, and governments in the Global North, which already invest more than $16 billion annually in biodiversity, should provide funding for human-wildlife collaboration. A “Bank for Other Species” dedicated to investing in non-human infrastructure – like the World Bank does for humans – should be established to manage these resources.
As a next step, Tehanu plans to pilot interspecies money with elephants in rural India and ancient beech trees in Romania, among other species. Of course, many details must be worked out for such experiments to be effective at scale. Policymakers and stakeholders must create mechanisms to prevent theft and adjudicate ownership disputes, and design a robust selection process for human trustees. Moreover, guardrails are needed to ensure that trustees act as responsible fiduciaries.
Some may object to putting a price on nature. But the environment is already being monetized, and the interests of non-humans are being sidelined. Interspecies money seeks to change that with its vision for a new planetary economy that can support prosperity and equity for people and animals alike. As a form of universal basic capital, interspecies money aims to redistribute billions of dollars in such a way that increases non-human participation in the economy and encourages solidarity and collaboration among species. But that will require us to treat other living creatures with the dignity they deserve.
This commentary draws on insights generated through the 17 Rooms Initiative, convened by the Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings and The Rockefeller Foundation. The views expressed here are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of 17 Rooms, its organizers, or funders.