In furtherance of a global goal to protect and conserve at least 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030, the following nine foundations today launched the “Protecting Our Planet Challenge,” calling for additional private and public funding and pledging $5 billion over the next 10 years to support the creation, expansion, management, and monitoring of protected and conserved lands, inland waters, and seas: Arcadia, Bezos Earth Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Re:wild, Nia Tero, Rainforest Trust, Rob and Melani Walton Foundation, and the Wyss Foundation.
As part of the commitments, Bezos Earth Fund announced last Monday that it will contribute $1 billion, with a focus on the tropical Pacific Ocean, Congo Basin, and tropical Andes.
U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said that the Earth Fund’s contribution “comes at a pivotal moment as we seek to avoid the loss of irreplaceable biodiversity and further destabilization of the climate” and said that “we must stop destroying forests and other fragile ecosystems, and conserve and restore the world’s carbon sinks” in order to “turn the tide on the climate crisis.”
