THE ORBITAL Tracking the emergent movement for planetary systems governance

22 actors · 8 projects · 6 events

From the Field

First Transnational European Citizens' Assembly Convenes in Bologna

The EU-funded CitiDem project is holding a Transnational European Citizens' Assembly in Bologna — one of two cross-border assemblies bookending local ones in 8 EU member states. Topics include disinformation, climate justice, diversity, workers' rights, and youth empowerment. The project aims to produce cross-border deliberative recommendations and bridge citizens directly with EU policymakers.

Why this matters → A genuinely transnational citizens' assembly — with participants from 8 countries deliberating on climate, migration, and democracy simultaneously — is a prototype for the kind of planetary governance body that can make legitimate collective decisions without a world government.

Sortition FoundationGlobal Assembly
citizens assemblytransnational governancedeliberative democracyEU

Across Africa, Farmers Adopt Regenerative Practices to Secure Food Sovereignty

With geopolitical shocks threatening to spike fertiliser prices in low-income countries, farmers in Kenya, Burkina Faso, and Mali are scaling up green manure techniques and community savings groups to build locally governed food systems. The USDA launched a $700 million Regenerative Agriculture Pilot Program in December 2025, signalling a parallel shift at the policy level.

Why this matters → When external supply chains collapse, locally governed food systems built on soil biology and community finance become the only resilient alternative — a live demonstration that planetary health and community autonomy are the same project.

Kiss the Ground
food sovereigntyregenerative agricultureafricacommunity finance

Indigenous Peoples Challenge 30x30 Conservation at UN Forum

At the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 2026, Indigenous Peoples Rights International challenged 'fortress conservation' models that displace communities while claiming to protect biodiversity. Panellists argued that Indigenous peoples manage roughly 20% of the world's land and consistently show lower deforestation rates than state or corporate managers — yet are routinely excluded under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's 30x30 targets.

Why this matters → The 30x30 biodiversity agenda will only succeed if co-governed by the peoples who have stewarded those lands for generations — making Indigenous land rights the decisive variable in whether global targets translate into living ecosystems or just lines on paper.

Gaia FoundationIndigenous Terra Madre
indigenous land rightsbiodiversity30x30conservation

Rights of Nature Tribunal Declares Fossil Fuels a Pattern of Ecocide

On World Water Day, the International Rights of Nature Tribunal released the judgment of its 6th session, declaring that the expansion of fossil fuels and large-scale mining constitutes 'a systemic pattern of violations of the Rights of Nature, amounting to ecocide.' The judgment synthesised 24 cases from across the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia, and introduced the concept of 'green colonialism' — extraction in the name of the energy transition that intensifies pressure on ecosystems in the Global South.

Why this matters → A tribunal-level ruling framing ecocide as a systemic pattern — not isolated incidents — establishes the legal and moral vocabulary for future binding international instruments, and a scaffolding for planetary rights-based governance is assembling faster than most observers expected.

International Rights of Nature Tribunal
rights of natureecocideclimate justicegreen colonialism

River Reuss Heads to Referendum

A citizen initiative in Lucerne canton has gathered 5,460 signatures to grant legal personhood to the River Reuss, triggering a mandatory referendum. If passed, the river would gain the right to flow freely and be defended in court by appointed guardians.

Why this matters → If a Swiss canton can grant legal personhood to a river through direct democracy, the question shifts from whether to how fast.

International Rights of Nature Tribunal
rights of naturegovernanceswitzerland

Kiss the Ground Secures $12M to Scale Regenerative Farmer Training

Kiss the Ground has secured $12 million in new funding to expand its regenerative agriculture training programme to 10,000 farmers across the American West. The grant comes from a coalition of philanthropies focused on soil health as a climate solution.

Why this matters → Regenerative agriculture only scales when the financial architecture supports the people doing the work — the same design challenge governance faces at every level.

Kiss the Ground
regenerative agriculturesoilfood systemsfunding

Metagovernance Project Releases Open Governance Standards for DAOs

The Metagovernance Project has published version 2.0 of its Community Rule framework — a machine-readable standard for describing governance rules in decentralised organisations. Over 200 DAOs have already adopted the standard.

Why this matters → Governance is only as legible as the language it's written in. A shared grammar for rules makes comparison, learning, and accountability possible at scale.

Metagovernance Project
digital governancedaoopen standards

Brazil, South Korea and Kerala Are Building Democratic Public Platforms

The Platform Cooperativism Consortium published analysis of how governments in Brazil, South Korea, and Kerala have launched state-owned apps and public-cooperative hybrid platforms to counter monopoly platform capitalism. The central question: under what conditions can public or cooperative digital platforms achieve both economic durability and democratic governance?

Why this matters → As digital infrastructure becomes the nervous system of economic life, who owns and governs it is as consequential as who owns land — making platform cooperativism a direct analog to commons-based governance at planetary scale.

Commons NetworkMetagovernance Project
platform cooperativismdigital commonsinfrastructure sovereigntycooperative governance

Luleå Installs Permanent Climate Governance Exhibition in Shopping Centre

The Swedish city of Luleå has installed a permanent interactive exhibition on climate transition in its main shopping centre, reaching 40,000 visitors per month. The exhibition invites residents to participate in ongoing climate planning decisions.

Why this matters → Governance that hides in policy documents stays abstract. Governance that shows up in a shopping mall becomes culture.

urban governanceclimate communicationparticipatory democracysweden

ReFi DAO Pilots Nature-Backed Currency in Amazon Communities

ReFi DAO's latest pilot in the Peruvian Amazon has issued a community currency backed by verified forest carbon and biodiversity credits, circulating among 12 villages. Early results show a 30% increase in forest stewardship activities.

Why this matters → When the value of money is literally tied to the health of the forest, economic incentives and ecological health become the same thing.

ReFi DAO
regenerative financenature based currencyindigenous communities

Second Global Citizens' Assembly Announced — Focus on Biodiversity

Building on the success of the first Global Assembly on the Climate Crisis, organisers have announced a second gathering to deliberate on biodiversity loss. 100 randomly selected citizens from 150 countries will participate over six months in 2026.

Why this matters → Randomly selected citizens consistently make better long-term decisions than elected officials — because they have no election to win.

Global AssemblySortition Foundation
citizens assemblybiodiversitysortition

terra0 Launches First Self-Owning Forest in Germany

Berlin-based art and research project terra0 has established the first legally recognised forest governed by a decentralised autonomous organisation in Brandenburg, Germany. The forest now issues its own tokens representing rights to its timber harvest.

Why this matters → An ecosystem that can own itself and make financial decisions about its own resources is not a metaphor. It is a governance innovation.

terra0
rights of naturedaosmart contractsgermany

Nordic Larp Community Runs Governance Simulation for EU Parliament Staff

The Nordic larp community ran a three-day governance simulation for 45 European Parliament staff members, exploring alternative decision-making structures through immersive roleplay. Participants reported significantly shifted perspectives on institutional design.

Why this matters → You cannot think your way into a new relationship with power. You have to play your way into it.

Nordic Larp CommunityTransformative Play Initiative
larpgovernance simulationeuropean parliament

EU Bets €33M on Larp Festivals as Democratic Infrastructure

The EU Horizon-funded Larpocracy project — involving Uppsala University and partners across Europe — has published research arguing that larp festivals are 'cultural institutions' and sites of a democratic public sphere. The project will test this by designing a model larp festival in Poland in summer 2026, explicitly as a space for building deliberative and democratic capacity, including with marginalised communities in Brazil and Poland.

Why this matters → If the lived encounter of larp can reliably build deliberative capacity and democratic values — and the EU is betting €33 million on that hypothesis — then immersive play becomes one of the most scalable tools for civic renewal.

Nordic Larp CommunityTransformative Play Initiative
larpdeliberative democracyexperiential futuresEU

Purpose Foundation Reports 300% Growth in Steward-Owned Companies

Purpose Foundation's annual report shows steward-owned companies — where control stays with employees and cannot be sold — have grown 300% since 2020. The model is gaining traction particularly in Germany, Denmark, and the UK.

Why this matters → Steward ownership is what happens when you ask: what if the company existed to serve its purpose, not to be sold?

Purpose Foundation
steward ownershipalternative ownershipcommons

Amsterdam Embeds Doughnut Economics into City Budget

Amsterdam has become the first major city to formally integrate Doughnut Economics metrics into its annual budget process, requiring each department to demonstrate that spending respects both social foundations and ecological ceilings.

Why this matters → The doughnut is no longer a metaphor in Amsterdam. It is a budget line.

Doughnut Economics Action Lab
doughnut economicsurban governanceregenerative economics

Gaia Foundation Expands Indigenous Seed Library Network to 40 Countries

The Gaia Foundation has expanded its network of community seed libraries — protecting traditional crop varieties — to 40 countries across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. The network now safeguards over 2,000 seed varieties at risk of commercial replacement.

Why this matters → Food sovereignty begins with who controls the seeds. A network of community seed libraries is a form of distributed governance over the foundation of life.

Gaia FoundationIndigenous Terra Madre
food sovereigntyindigenous knowledgebiodiversity

EU Launches Second Phase of Digital Twin Earth Initiative

The European Union has launched the second phase of Destination Earth, its initiative to build a comprehensive digital twin of the planet. The new phase focuses on modelling tipping points and enabling real-time policy simulation at planetary scale.

Why this matters → A working model of Earth is not just a scientific tool. It is a governance tool — the first time human institutions could simulate consequences before acting.

digital twinclimate modellingEU

Scotland's Rewilding Charter Signed by 150 Landowners

A landmark Scottish Rewilding Charter has been signed by 150 landowners covering 1.2 million acres, committing to restore native woodland, wetland, and peatland across the Scottish Highlands. It is the largest voluntary rewilding commitment in European history.

Why this matters → Rewilding at this scale requires not just ecological knowledge but a new politics of land — one where landowners see themselves as stewards rather than owners.

Rewilding Europe
rewildingland stewardshipscotlandbiodiversity

UK Parliament Recommends Permanent Citizens' Assembly for Climate

A House of Commons inquiry has recommended establishing a permanent, randomly selected Citizens' Assembly with formal advisory powers over UK climate policy. The recommendation follows the success of the 2020 Climate Assembly UK.

Why this matters → Moving from one-off assemblies to a permanent democratic body would fundamentally change how climate policy is made — and who gets to make it.

Sortition FoundationGlobal Assembly
citizens assemblyclimate policydemocratic innovationUK

Commons Network Wins EU Recognition for Digital Commons Framework

The Commons Network's framework for treating digital infrastructure as a public commons has been formally acknowledged in EU digital policy guidance, opening the door for public funding of open-source governance tools.

Why this matters → When digital infrastructure is owned as a commons rather than a commodity, the governance of that infrastructure becomes a matter of collective self-determination.

Commons Network
commonsdigital rightsEU policy

Research Finds DAOs Reproduce Inequality — and Points to Fixes

Researchers from Hult International Business School and École des ponts ParisTech found that token-weighted voting in DAOs produces plutocracy, with voter participation averaging just 0.79% in some cases. Applying Elinor Ostrom's design principles for commons governance, they propose quadratic voting, reputation-based systems, and Soulbound Tokens as remedies. Case studies include MakerDAO, KlimaDAO, and FairCoop.

Why this matters → Regenerative finance tools will reproduce the inequalities they claim to solve unless their governance architecture is deliberately designed around inclusion — Ostrom's framework for fisheries and forests turns out to be exactly the right lens for digital commons too.

ReFi DAOMetagovernance Project
daodigital commonsregenerative financeostrom