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Design Principles

In designing Guardian Connector for long-term viability and sustainability, Conservation Metrics adheres to a strict set of principles. The tools included in the solution must meet the following criteria:

📦 Free or Affordable Software, Hardware and Services​

As much as possible, we prioritize tools that are free to use and hardware or cloud-based services that are available at low cost. This ensures the long-term sustainability of the system for our partners.

🌐 Translatable to Local Languages​

While translating an entire tool interface may not always be feasible or necessary, the most mission-critical elements should be translatable to local languages to ensure comprehension and usability.

🔒 Data Sovereignty and Control​

In alignment with the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance and the UN Human Rights Council's Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Right of Indigenous Peoples to data, including with regard to data collection and disaggregation study, our partners must be able to:

  • Own the infrastructure where data is stored
  • Control data collection, storage, and transmission across the project lifecycle
  • Access their data at all times
  • Be assured that no external parties have unauthorized access to their data
  • Make their own decisions about sharing data with third parties
  • Opt out or remove their data from the system at any time with minimal friction

These rights are fundamental and non-negotiable.

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Indigenous data sovereignty means the inherent rights and interests that Indigenous Peoples have in relation to the creation, collection, access, analysis, interpretation, management, dissemination, reuse and control of data relating to Indigenous Peoples. In the context of Indigenous data sovereignty, data are considered a strategic resource, and a framework for their ethical use is required to advance Indigenous Peoples’ collective well-being and self-determination. Restoring control over data, including that which was previously collected from Indigenous Peoples without their consent, should be recognized as a form of remedy for addressing historical injustices and correcting false narratives. This includes the establishment of effective mechanisms for data repatriation.

From the UN Human Rights Council's Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples "Right of Indigenous Peoples to data, including with regard to data collection and disaggregation"

👥 Community-Operable Software Stack​

While not every persona will be able to use every tool, we will not include tools that cannot realistically be operated by anyone within our co-creation partner teams without external support. Initial setup may require the involvement of a technical service provider, but ongoing operation should be feasible for local users. We aim to select tools that are accessible, user-friendly, and straightforward to learn and maintain.

🏠 Self-Hosting Capability​

Although Conservation Metrics maintains cloud-based Guardian Connector instances available to co-creation partners (and potentially others, under an affordable fee-for-service model), we are committed to building a toolchain that can be fully self-hosted. This includes:

  • Avoiding proprietary solutions that are inaccessible to partners
  • Providing sufficient documentation and automation to enable independent setup and administration
  • Ensuring compatibility with a wide range of hosting platforms (e.g., Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, and country-specific clouds)

This enables deployment in specific jurisdictions according to partner needs.

📴 Offline-First Design​

Nearly all tools should be usable entirely offline. At a minimum, the core data workflow—from data collection to visualization (and some curation)—should not require an internet connection. Offline readiness is essential for rural and remote use cases.

🔗 Built for Interoperability and Extension​

Even as we commit to a focused stack of integrated tools, our system must remain open and flexible. We will structure our data storage and APIs to enable easy integration of third-party tools in the future. This makes it easier for partners to plug in complementary systems as their needs evolve.