Jeff Bezos pledges $2 billion to restore nature

The world’s second-richest man, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has pledged $2 billion towards restoring nature and transforming food systems at the UN climate change conference, COP26.

“Nature is beautiful but it is also fragile,” Bezos told delegates in Glasgow on Tuesday. “I was reminded of this in July when I went into space with Blue Origin. I was told seeing the earth from space changes the lens through which you view the world, but I was not prepared for just how much that would be true.”

The $2 billion is in addition to $1 billion that he announced in September that was to go towards conservation efforts. This money is part of the Bezos Earth Fund, a $10 billion initiative he launched in February 2020 that focuses on reaching next-zero emissions and shifting to a nature-positive environment. All the funds will be disbursed by 2030.

While $1 billion will go towards landscape restoration with an initial focus on Africa (with efforts towards planting trees on degraded landscapes, revitalizing grasslands, integrating trees into farmland). The other $1 billion will go towards transforming food and agricultural systems to support life without degrading the planet. “The Bezos Earth Fund will allocate funds to support a range of urgent imperatives, including raising crop yields while shrinking the agricultural footprint, sharply reducing food loss and waste, shifting diets towards plant-based sources, and making agricultural supply chains more sustainable,” read a statement released by the Bezos Earth Fund.

"To conserve our natural world is to conserve our human species," said Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, ethologist, conservationist, and founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace. "We depend on nature for every breath we take and morsel we eat. We alone can determine its future – an awesome responsibility. This is a hugely welcome announcement and much needed as time is slipping away."

"Africa is home to the world's greatest restoration opportunity, with more than 700 million hectares of degraded land that can be restored," said Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer, African Union Development Agency-NEPAD. "Africa is the continent most dependent on the land for livelihoods and most vulnerable to climate change. Africa must therefore lead the way. We warmly welcome partnership with ambitious funders like the Bezos Earth Fund."

"This commitment recognizes the urgency of the situation before us," said Christiana Figueres, former U.N. climate chief and founding partner of Global Optimism. "For too long we have ignored the solutions that nature provides for us. Protection and restoration of our Earth is key to protecting and restoring our future. Key to our success will be reforming the way in which we produce and consume food, which is driving global warming, species loss, and inequality, rather than nourishing ourselves and our planet."