This article is about the World Value Bank, also called World Worth Bank, which are both the literal translation of the Dutch name: ‘Wereld Waarde Bank’.
The idea for this bank originated in 2012, but has recently been further developed after the creation and expansion of the EarthHectareGrid.com and Hectarendorp.nl websites.
So first of all the question:
WHAT IS THE WORLD VALUE BANK?
The World Value Bank is a connecting body between several hectares-villages and the surrounding inhabited areas. (click on the link for an explanation on the homepage or see later in this article ‘What is a hectares-village?’).
These can also be hectares-villages in formation, as well as hectare settlements and individual hectares in formation.
One of the meanings of the word ‘bank’ is as ‘central repository and exchange place’ and also ‘repository’. In Dutch language those areplaces where something is kept until it’s ready for use, such as: ‘databank (database)’, ‘address bank’, ‘seed bank’, ‘food bank’ or even a ‘sandbank’. In this context, therefore, it is not an institution that holds citizens’ funds. That is why this bank is officially called:
The Latin caption ‘Ad Valorem’ means ’to the value’. The bank implements ‘valorization’, which is ‘reassessment of the value of a debt, of prices, or ‘raising to a certain level to make production profitable again’. ‘Infinitum’ means ‘everlasting’.
The above freely associated are all transactions and investments of this bank in accordance with ’the right measure of things’, man, nature, animal kingdom and planet, and refers to questions whether-or-not with answers, such as: ‘How can we best relate to this?’ The starting point is an economically stable system.
LOGO WORLD VALUE BANK
The above logo is a first impression for the image of the bank. As a playful idea, an existing image of a crop circle has been edited. Should the World Value Bank be officially established, could a professional logo be made, which is also suitable for press-work or printing from your printer?
After all, the design of the crop circle is so beautiful because of the young plant that symbolizes renewal, as well as the importance of a healthy ecology as the basis for all life. And the marks in the margins are as mysterious as the crop circle phenomenon itself.
This has largely taken place in England for decades, but no one has ever seen these gigantic formations realized overnight in the wheat fields.
REGISTRATION AND EXCHANGE
So what exactly does the bank do? Harvests from the hectare villages can be registered with the World Value Bank. These harvests are then exchanged through supply and demand.
This does not concern bartering, but distribution according to supply and demand.
The intention here is a just distribution key, so according to the needs of every living being and shared equally among all of us.
So the exchange of harvests is not based on a revenue model?
The beautiful photos in this article are this time by Marinus de Keijzer,
the BetuweFotograaf.nl.
A selection of these still lifes in the countryside has been chosen as it can also look in a hectares-village. Just imagine, the whole of the Netherlands is so beautiful!
Yes that’s right. The exchange is primarily aimed at providing the basic necessities of life for all people in the country. This also applies to the food of all domesticated animals, and even wild animals have been taken into account in the design of this plan.
All villages among themselves as well as large cities can register and purchase harvests via a supply and demand system. Cities are part of this system because city people do not have access to land to grow their own food.
REGISTRATION AND GRANTING FREE HECTARES
What else does the Bank do? Another important function of the World Value Bank is registering free land and ‘granting’ these plots of land in hectares. These are called hectare-plots.
GRANTING LAND
The ‘granting’ of hectare parcels by the World Value Bank refers to the act of the bank as Lieutenant Governor to ‘pardon’ and ‘allow’ the management of the land by third parties with succession.
‘Third parties’ means one administrator as an individual or several individuals as a couple or family, with the intention of establishing a ‘family domain’ with succession. (see below ‘What is a family domain?’).
The ‘granting’ of land by the World Value Bank therefore does not include the principle of ‘lending’ as lending requires a ‘giving back’ of the land sooner or later.
Watering blossoms in orchards in spring at late frosts. This keeps the blossoms intact (otherwise the fruiting will not occur).
GIVING BACK OR RETURN
For example, theoretically a hectare plot can be ‘given back’ to the bank when there is no succession. But in fact, the land cannot be given back, not manually as ground can’t be moved, nor on paper either, as such a thing is simply not possible. The bank does not own the land.
A better word, in case when there is no succession from the family that manages and lives on the hectare-plot is perhaps ‘return’. But it isn’t there to stay, since the ‘return’ means that the land immediately becomes eligible for granting again as a ‘free registration’ at the time of return, for example for a new family or founder of a family estate.
WHAT IS A FAMILY DOMAIN?
A family domain, also called kin domain or family homestead, is a hectare of land on which a family lives, with succession. There are also a number of guidelines for these family lands. For example, each hectare plot has a green living fence of trees (and shrubs and bushes below it), and a quarter of a hectare must consist of forest.
In addition, each hectare plot has a body of water, which can be a large pond or a small lake. Good neighborliness is also paramount. People must actually live on the hectare plot and may not manage housing elsewhere.
WHAT IS A HECTARES VILLAGE?
Ideally, the said family domains are organized in a hectares-village, or a settlement consisting of several family domains connected together. A family domains village may consist of a maximum of 150 hectares, including 7% of the surface as a center (with 150 hectares, the center is over 10 hectares in size and there is therefore room for 140 family domains in the village).
More about the original idea of a family domain and hectares-villages (or settlements) can be found with the creator of this concept, the Russian writer Vladimir Megre. Suggestions for more guidelines and legal articles based on them can be found under the FOUNDATION menu.
HIGHLY VALUATED
The articles of law mentioned above can be implemented by the World Value Bank, or at least be held in high esteem. It should be noted that for the Dutch situation it is important that the hectares-villages will also provide food production for people living in the cities.
This is due to the fact that the Netherlands is a small but densely populated country, and there is too little agricultural land available to house all Dutch people in family size on hectare plots. How is the situation for your country?
ONE MILLION HECTARES
However, since not everyone will feel called upon to manage a hectare of land, an estimate of 1 million hectares has been assumed in an imaginary situation.
With an average family of 4 people per hectare, half of the Dutch could live like this.
Even 2 million hectares would be feasible if the entire Dutch population were to aspire to that, then the big cities would start to crumble. (But that is not the case at the moment).
However, it is important to let these figures count because if everyone wanted to set up a family domain, this is also feasible.
HARVEST SURPLUS
But how does the World Value Bank then proceed? Considering the surface area of the land to be managed in relation to the number of people living on it, hectares villages have harvest surpluses. These surpluses are donated to people in cities, who do not have land to grow their own food.
To this end, one acre or more could be made available for crop production. Examples include protein-rich crops, deep-rooted crops (for soil recovery), grains, potatoes, pumpkins, sunflowers. You can also do crop rotation.
The planting of food trees and shrubs can also provide a lot of food production. When planting 200 fruit and nut trees, the harvest yield is much greater than what one can consume in the village.
These ‘food trees’ grow, for example, in the surrounding ‘living’ fence of the hectare as well as in the quarter hectare of forest, or spread over the site as orchards.
YIELD FOOD TREES
How many nuts does one nut tree produce? To give just one example: a walnut tree can grow up to thirty meters high with a crown width of 10 metres.
At full grown height the tree can produce about 1000 walnuts. That yields about 50 to 80 pounds per tree (nuts in shell).
Suppose you have 10 walnut trees on your acres, that would be 500 to 800 pounds per year, and 70,000 to 112,000 pounds per acre village if all 140 family homesteads have 10 walnut trees.
The yield obviously also depends on the type of walnut, the climate and tree-management practices. Ditto for chestnut. In addition, nut trees are also future sources of good quality wood.
A standard apple tree that is several decades old will certainly produce around 200 to 500 apples per tree. The amount is much lower for low stem apple trees (depicted above).
Incidentally, as far as apples are concerned, there are no longer any original standard apple trees. The genetically manipulated and grafted low stem trees take up relatively more ground space in relation to the yield.
INTERIM ADMINISTRATOR
If the bank is not the ‘owner’ of the land, then what is it?
The World Value Bank is ‘interim manager’. The bank manages land when it is declared free at the World Value Bank and has become available for the establishment of a family estate.
The bank also acts as an interim administrator when family land is transferred to another family, or when it can be assigned to a new administrator through succession. All new managers and/or new hectare plots as family domains are registered with the bank. The bank may not use the land commercially.
The interim manager also registers the free land at the Land Registry and makes the map available online for those registered to view (who have submitted a plan).
RENT, LEASE, SALE
What happens when free land is registered with the World Value Bank? It can no longer be rented, leased or sold.
In the future, if one wants to establish a new family home ground elsewhere, one must therefore register for this new ground. It is therefore not possible to sell the current land or buy new land from the bank.
After all, the land is not owned by the manager, nor, as stated earlier, by the bank, but the bank is the authority for granting the land.
To say it one more time in a different way: The land is therefore not ‘on loan’ from the bank, because the land does not belong to the bank.
The soil is the Divine basis on which we humans, animals and nature may live in harmony with each other.
So the bank forms the coordinating principle to regulate the above in good order.
DONATION OF LAND
What do you think of the following idea? Plots of land can be donated to the bank, after which it can be granted by the bank as ‘free land’ for family domains and may no longer be sold.
All free land is thus registered as a collective good, which is given under management per hectare to a manager or managers who then set up a family domain with succession.
DONATION OF MONEY AND GOODS
If people want to donate land and goods for the establishment of hectares-villages, this can also be done via the World Value Bank. The donated land has a value of digital money, money that then becomes the property of the bank. However, this money can only be spent through funds to establish family domains and hectares-villages.
What percentage of that money could be for the bank itself? For example, as an incentive for the bank to maintain and stimulate innovative initiatives?
After all, we are in a transitional phase from a regulated economy with a profit motive to a value-based economy with abundance for everyone. Is a percentage of 10% an option?
For example, this can be used to pay for staff and equipment (such as computers and printers). (This 10% is just a number, what kind of calculations can be made about what a fair distribution key is for the donor of land? In other words, in relation to his or her wishes for the returned services from the bank?).
SUPPLY AND DEMAND
The remaining 90% money and goods are brought in via the supply and demand system. There is a priority list where this money and these goods can be spent.
For example, in a time of food scarcity and transition to an ecological system that retains its value, all resources will be used to improve the soil, create good compost, make seed and mechanical resources available free of charge, such as ploughs, tractors, wood chippers, water irrigation systems and hand tool.
And what about the use of horse-drawn carriages? Who knows, more people will start this in the future, if they just want to, or if there is a need for it. (e.g. in the event of a shortage of petrol, oil and gas).
All examples mentioned can also be second-hand equipment, for example agricultural machinery made available by farmers or producers, which can be ordered for a rental price or on loan, as well as for maintenance and repair costs.
INSTALLATION OF INFRASTRUCTURE, CENTER AND MARKINGS
Another example of the use of money and goods is the construction of infrastructure in the hectares villages and settlements, such as the road around the village (the surrounding area) and, for example, two central access roads, possibly also with bridges and parking spaces (for cars, buses, horse & carriages).
CONSTRUCTION CENTER
What kind of money can be spent on the construction of the center? This includes, for example, a number of accommodations for collective use.
Think of a marketplace, part of which has a roof, various meeting rooms such as schools, meeting rooms, catering (varying from restaurant to coffee, tea house, and lunchroom), or a doctor’s practice.
Only companies or organizations may be established in the center that serve the general goals of the residents of the hectare village and the surrounding area.
MARKS AND DEFINITIONS
Could there also be a fund for the construction of all markings in the village? This concerns markings around all family domains and the access roads. These can be concrete posts (as they are now also used for garden fences).
The purpose of the markings is to record what the land belongs to, for example the demarcations of all roads, family domains and the central hectares.
There is also access to a register of who is responsible for the demarcated grounds.
For the family domains, these are the adults who manage the hectare plots, and for the central hectares and access roads, this is the village board.
NAMING WORLD WORTH BANK
The World Worth Bank has the same abbreviation ‘WWB’ in Dutch, German and English, respectivly: Wereld Waarde Bank, Welt Wert Bank, World Worth Bank.
English is of course important as many of the Commonwealth countries worldwide have English as their official language. In Dutch this is called ‘het Gemenebest’.
With 56 sovereign member states, this constitutes one third of the world’s population with approximately 2.5 billion global citizens, of which more than 60% are under 29 years old.
The states include both advanced economies and independent developing countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and the Pacific, such as India.
The countries are supported by a network of civil, cultural, intergovernmental and professional organizations. Here’s a map of
The Commonwealth.
VALUE, VALEUR, VÄRDE
In many other European languages, the word Value starts with a V, such as (also) in English: Value, or in French: Valeur, in Swedish: Värde, Norwegian: Verdi, then Spanish & Catalan & Portuguese: Valor, Italian: Valore, Bosnian: Vrijednost, then Danish: Vaerdi, Romanian: Valoare.
Of course there are also many languages that have other initial letters, but the countries mentioned above are a large common denominator for the abbreviations to be used.
By the way, the Dutch word ‘waarde’ for ‘value’ has the same meaning in Afrikaans. Languages other than the Roman and Germanic languages, have a different alphabet and other characters, and a translator must be involved for us in the West.
These are the Slavic languages, such as Russian and Polish, or Eastern and Asian languages such as Arabic and Chinese and Indian.
REGISTER WORLD VALUE BANK
Is it an option to also become a member of the World Value Bank? For example for 10 Euros, Dollars or Pounds? This money could then be used to set up the bank. It is ‘principle money’, which means that one is a member of the bank for its principles.
In the start-up phase, you will not immediately receive value for that tenner, unless fate determines otherwise.
BANK PASS WWB
And what do you think of the idea of a bank card that is also a business card? The bank could, for example, send this by e-mail with a document to be printed on which an image has been placed that has the size of a bank card or business card.
There are cutting lines along which you can cut out the image. When printed or pasted on sturdy paper, you can keep it in your wallet. You can show it to anyone who is interested, even to people who aren’t.
It is about planting the seed of thought. The seed from which a young plant can grow, such as on the logo! Even if they see the card only sideways, and think to themselves, ‘it will never be’, no problem.
Just keep smiling!
(even if you can no longer pay your energy bill, medical costs or rent, or when you do, you’ll have nothing left to buy groceries. Also if you’re not on time to pay the bills, because there’s not enough saldo on your account, you’ll get a fine for paying too late. So how’s that!?).
REGISTRATION WISH
After transferring the tenner, one could also register the wish with the bank to set up a family domain, and therefore manage one hectare of land. How does the registration procedure work?
You must indicate in which area you would want to set up this hectare, your 2.4 acres. When free land actually becomes available for the establishment of a family domain, one can add a plan to his or her registration.
PLAN WITH MAP
For example, a folder could be sent in advance with a map, and a number of questions to fill in, with which to submit the plan. For example, the folder costs 25 euros including shipping costs.
When the plan is approved, one can officially register as available manager of a family domain for a hectare plot. This registration costs 50 euros. (Is it possible to create a fund for people who cannot afford this?).
Does registration therefore guarantee the acquisition of land?
Well, that depends on how much land becomes available and how many applications there are. Only one application may be submitted per family (also as a couple or as a single person).
A confirmation of the application could be made as an official document on special paper that will be sent by registered mail. You will then be able to access data from the database, seed bank and food bank as soon as they are set up.
DONATE TO THE WORLD VALUE BANK
Can one also donate to the bank because of the charities it achieves? Yes, this can be done in many ways. Various funds are created. So one can donate labeled.
One can also donate land if one wants the land to end up in good hands for the establishment of family domains, and make so many families happy, including possibly setting up your own domain yourself, so that people will thrive but live differently than before (even if it is on one’s own land).
GREEN DESTINATION
As a family domain, the land is automatically given a green destination. But how green is green? To start with, each hectare (2.4 acres) is lined with trees, and about an acre of forest has been placed on it. There are also hundreds of shrubs and bushes, there is a large pond or small lake, as well as crop cultivation or pasture.
That is the difference with, for example, the construction of an industrial estate or the expansion of an already large city with even more suburbs and conglomerations.
INHERITANCE AND TAX REFUND
One can also donate by leaving an inheritance, or perhaps also as a charity for tax refunds? For example, the land you now own can be converted into a family domain, or even an area with several hectares, thus guaranteeing the future of children and grandchildren in the social context of a village of hectares.
WHERE DOES THE WAY LEAD?
What about the idea of giving people financial support to set up their family domain? Costs must also be incurred each year for cultivating half a hectare for food production.
For example, half or three quarters of the hectare can be allocated to agriculture or small-scale livestock farming. Large cattle are kept on the outskirts of the village or even on pastures outside the perimeter of the village because these animals need a lot of space to live. This is also the case for the larger wildlife such as deer, wild pigs, and all predators.
Such support can consist of a donation of good quality plant and tree seeds (which are naturally original in origin, so no genetically manipulated material).
Machines and raw materials can also be donated to cultivate the soil. You can also donate money to purchase the aforementioned goods.
ANIMAL CARE
Another example: One wants to create a shelter for horses in a hectare village. These horses can be used to move goods by horse and cart, but also to drive residents and visitors around.
Stables are built through the fund and various riding trails are laid out, as well as connecting roads to other hectares-villages.
In this way, the horses live more in nature and their need for a larger migration space is also met, although this is controlled to a certain extent in the small country of the Netherlands. After all, we don’t have large-scale prairies.
This also applies to all other animals that you want to keep, whereby it should also be noted that all young animals are allowed to grow up in the village, including all male animals, including roosters, bulls, goats and boars, and that both male and female animals are allowed to lead a full life.
It should also be noted that small-scale livestock farming is involved in the hectare villages. Ideally, the feed comes from the animals of the country, perhaps with some hay from outside, but no animal feed from the other side of the ocean. Can you imagine how that used to be regulated on an old-fashioned farm, like 100 years ago?
FOODBANK
Another example. There is a food bank in the village that collects food produced in several surrounding villages and farmland. A hectares village can therefore be a central distribution point. This food bank consists of high quality food that every person can consume a part of.
CONSTRUCTION OF SILOS
A fund can be used for the creation of storage areas such as silos with good ventilation and temperature control and protection against vermin.
Immediately after harvesting from mid-summer and early autumn, the food is stored here, and can be stored through the winter and spring, or released earlier, for example for processing into products such as jams, oils, compound flours, and so on.
The silos can also be used to store grain, other foodstuffs such as animal products, fruits, nuts, etc., as well as hay, wood chips or sawdust, and manure for composting.
Ideally, the silos are made of materials from nature, but recycled plastic is also an option for the transition due to the lack of natural materials in the vicinity, such as wood, which is due to the scarcity of trees nowadays, such as in the Netherlands, and also in many parts of the world due to forest fires.
Recycled plastic stackable crates can also be purchased from the fund for the storage and transport of products.
CABLING AND ENERGY SUPPLY
If not present, cabling can be installed for television, internet and telephone. The energy supply is a question that each village council will have to answer for itself. Applications can also be made for this and donations can be made for this.
Geothermal heat, for example, guarantees a constant temperature in the winter (which has priority in terms of investment for heat supply).
So far a few initial ideas for the World Value Bank.
Who knows one day it’ll happen!
Another encouraging iniative for substantial change for our economy is from the Dutch
Jan de Dood and Marieke de Vrij with
The Future of a Truly Stable Economy
Greetings,
Margreet Otto Wilschut
Return to MENU