groups

Groups are organizations, communities, or networks that form namespaces within the ensurance protocol. They originate agents and coordinate collective action.

why

Nature protection requires coordination at multiple scales:

Local stewards need shared infrastructure
Thematic initiatives need coherent identity
Capital needs clear organizational containers

Groups provide namespaces that organize agents, pool resources, and create collective identity.

what

group architecture

Each group is:

An ERC-721 contract that mints agent NFTs
A namespace (e.g., .basin, .ensurance, .syndicate)
A coordination container for its member agents

group types

Groups serve different organizational purposes:

Namespace	Purpose	Example Agents
`.basin`	Watersheds and water features	`yampa-river.basin`, `colorado-river.basin`
`.ensurance`	Ecosystem stocks (15) and flows (19)	`climate-stability.ensurance`, `habitat.ensurance`
`.syndicate`	Thematic strategy coordination	`water-cycle.syndicate`, `wildfire-resilience.syndicate`
`.bioregion`	Bioregional agents (One Earth)	`greater-california.bioregion`
`.ecoregion`	Ecoregional agents (WWF/Olson)	`allegheny-highlands-forests.ecoregion`
`.refi`	Regenerative finance community	`member.refi`

The namespace tells you what kind of thing it is. Don't duplicate meaning—if it's a watershed, use .basin, not .ensurance.

the place / people / purpose triad

Groups and their agents map to three categories:

Category	Definition	Examples
Place	Point, polygon, or region—a location	Watersheds, bioregions, properties, natural assets
People	Individual, organization, or collective	Persons, foundations, companies, governments, communities
Purpose	Ecosystem service stocks and flows	Clean water, climate stability, habitat, pollination

An agent can span categories. A watershed agent (place) might steward habitat (purpose) and be operated by a land trust (people).

how

group membership

Agents originate from group contracts:

Group Contract (.basin)
├── Mints agent NFT
├── Assigns name (yampa-river)
├── Creates TBA
└── Agent becomes group member

All agents minted from a group contract are members of that group by definition.

naming conventions

All agent names are lowercase, hyphenated, human-readable. The namespace tells you the type:

Namespace	Naming Rule	Examples
`.basin`	Always include hydrologic feature type (`river`, `creek`, `lake`, `fork`)	`yampa-river.basin`, `elk-creek.basin`
`.ensurance`	Named for ecosystem service stocks or flows	`water-abundance.ensurance`, `inland-wetlands.ensurance`
`.syndicate`	Named for the strategy or theme	`water-cycle.syndicate`, `coastal-resilience.syndicate`
`.bioregion`	Named for the One Earth bioregion	`greater-california.bioregion`
`.ecoregion`	Named for the WWF/Olson ecoregion	`colorado-rockies-forests.ecoregion`

group namespaces

Namespaces provide:

Feature	Description
Identity	Clear branding (`name.group`)
Discovery	Filter and browse by group
Coordination	Shared resources and governance
Certificates	Group-specific ensurance lines

groups and instruments

Groups can create certificates of ensurance:

Instrument Type	Scope	Example
Policies	Tied to specific natural assets	`parcel-123.certificate`
Lines	Tied to group, region, or theme	`basin-water.certificate`

Lines stack funding toward policies. A .basin group might create water-focused certificates that fund watershed agents.

group contracts on Base

Each group has a deployed ERC-721 contract:

Contract	Description
`ensurance.721.sol`	Main ensurance group
`basin.721.sol`	BASIN place-based group
`syndicate.721.sol`	Syndicate coordination group

Contracts are deployed on Base L2. Query /api/groups for current addresses.

creating a group

Groups are created through the DUNA governance process. Contact the protocol for new namespace requests.

agents — The actors that originate from groups
certificates — Instruments groups can create
duna — Governance structure for group creation