Duran Duran helps cultivate micro forests in New Zealand

Duran Duran is joining an effort to plant the seeds of conservation with a project called Digital Native to build micro forests and generate revenue through selling NFTs.

Children in Queenstown, NZ plant trees in support of Digital Native, an all-new project supported by Duran Duran to connect NFTs to newly-planted, native trees in an effort to build micro forests around the world (Credit: Digital Native)

The British rock band Duran Duran, and keyboardist Nick Rhodes, are part of an effort to connect NFTs to newly planted, native trees in New Zealand. It is part of an initiative to start new micro forests around the world.
Duran Duran is kicking off the initiative by providing the 100 people who purchased one of the “Invisible” NFT collection which was released with the band’s 15th studio album, “Future Past,” an eco-friendly NFT featuring a themed artwork designed by Huxley.

“Much like nature, technology finds a pathway to evolve and when innovative new ideas can be utilized to help our planet in positive ways, we should seize those opportunities,” Rhodes said. “Connecting physical trees to the blockchain is a brand new way to create awareness through art and at the same time involve local communities to plant more trees, to benefit the environment.

Huxley, an AI artist, collaborated with Duran Duran on their “Invisible” music video and NFT artworks.

“We are thrilled to be continuing our relationship with the AI, Huxley, in this endeavor and our hope is that many others will follow to continue the process of planting trees,” Rhodes said. “We look forward to seeing where this collaboration will lead us in the future.”

Each Digital Native NFT is tradable and represents a living tree. The partners in the project – Duran Duran, Huxley and Cube – are donating 100% of the proceeds from secondary sales toward building more micro forests. Those NFT owners who elect to give 50% or more of their sales revenue to the project will be given a special key to the forest that will include future benefits, including NFTs.

The initial Duran Duran/Digital Native micro forest in New Zealand is composed of tree species native to the region and are being provided by Jean Malpas Community Nursery. They are being planted by school children from the area.

Micro forests are small, densely planted areas containing many species of native plants that are being cultivated around the world to improve biodiversity and combat climate change. The methodology was pioneered by the late Japanese master botanist Dr. Akira Miyawali and is proven successful in climates throughout the world.

This particular micro forest, which is being named the Future Past, is the beginning of the project. Digital Native plans to plant many more trees, with the initial goal of 1,000 micro forests, each helping combat the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss.