The AQUAE Labs Ecosystem Conservation Index (ALCI) is a comprehensive field-based assessment and monitoring framework designed to evaluate the biomass, biodiversity, and ecological functionality of terrestrial habitat areas. It provides standardized methodologies to classify habitat types, measure vegetative structure and seral stage, and quantify ecosystem services and species diversity in line with global standards.

ALCI field activities in February marked the completion of our first MRV protocol development phase and field-based research aimed at quantifying ecosystem health through bioacoustics sound assessment. Using the ALCI approach to monitoring seral stages of ecological succession, our teams have been systematically listening to and analyzing the sounds of the forest to better understand habitat structure, biodiversity activity, and ecosystem stability.

The ALCI bioacoustics approach evaluates ecosystem health by analyzing natural biological sounds. Healthy, intact habitats produce continuous and stable sound patterns from birds, insects, and amphibians. In contrast, fragmented or disturbed areas show irregular, highly variable soundscapes. By measuring these patterns, ALCI converts forest sound into clear indicators of biodiversity activity and habitat quality.

Each 1-minute recording is processed in Raven Pro software to generate a spectrogram and mean acoustic spectrum. From this we calculate:

Hypothesis: As ecological succession advances, soundscapes become more continuous and stable. Therefore, mature habitats show lower variability in biological sound and indicate higher ecosystem quality compared to disturbed or early-stage areas.

Listen to the sounds of several zones of varied ecological maturity from our field office at Belipola Arboretum in sri lanka

You can listen to the live recordings using ALCI bioacoustics approach from Belipola Arboretum by clicking the below links.

As conservation landscapes become increasingly fragmented and vulnerable species decline, non-intrusive field methods are no longer optional - they are essential. Bioacoustics monitoring allows ALCI teams to “listen” to ecosystems without disturbing them, capturing the natural sound signatures of biodiversity. These soundscapes act as measurable indicators of ecological condition, enabling comparisons between healthy reference systems and intervention sites. Over time, this provides a powerful way to track regeneration, evaluate restoration success, and understand ecosystem health through living, audible evidence rather than extraction.

We are entering the next phase of the AQUAE Labs Ecosystem Conservation Index (ALCI).

ALCI is the operational bridge between restoration science and real-world asset valuation. It converts replicable scientific ambition into MRVd, credit-ready ecological proof of work across biodiversity, biomass, water, soil, cooling, and biodiversity values - ensuring that restored landscapes are recognized, rewarded, and regenerated.

In the coming weeks, USD 4 million worth of ALCI credits will be made available to the market. These are insured ecosystem credits, underwritten through Lloyd’s syndicate partners, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of high-integrity, asset-backed nature finance. This issuance represents more than a credit release. It signals the transition of ecosystem restoration from voluntary contribution to bankable, risk managed environmental infrastructure where biodiversity, biomass, oxygen generation and primary ecosystem services are treated as measurable and insurable assets.

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