On Tuesday, Amazon CEO and billionaire Jeff Bezos pledged to grant $1 billion as a contribution to his efforts towards climate conservation. The announcement is a part of the Bezos Earth Fund (BEF) that has pledged a total of $10 billion, which will be granted to activists, scientists and groups that are working to fight climate change.

According to CNBC's report, the upcoming funds, after the conservation-oriented one, will intend to support food system transportation efforts along with landscape restoration.

“By coming together with the right focus and ingenuity, we can have both the benefits of our modern lives and a thriving natural world,” Bezos said on Monday at an event in New York.

The money will be used “to create, expand, manage and monitor protected and conserved areas,” according to a news release from the fund, which also introduced a website on Monday.

"But there is a notable exception,” he said. “The natural world is not better today than it was 500 years ago, when we enjoyed unspoiled forests, clean rivers, and the pristine air of the preindustrial age. We can and must reverse this anomaly. By coming together with the right focus and ingenuity, we can have both the benefits of our modern lives and a thriving natural world.”

Bezos also challenged others “to make their own pledges to protect and conserve nature and help in the fight against climate change. A job this big needs many allies.”

BEF stated that the grants will initially focus on areas of Central Africa's Congo Basin, the tropical Andes region and the tropical Pacific Ocean, for their biodiversity and carbon stocks including the amount of carbon stored in their vegetation, soils and ocean.

According to a report, the initiative is intended to support an international push to safeguard at least 30 percent of Earth’s lands and waters by 2030, known as 30x30. The plan, led by Britain, Costa Rica and France, is intended to help tackle a global biodiversity crisis that puts a million species of plants and animals at risk of extinction. While climate change is part of the problem, activities like farming and fishing have been even bigger drivers of biodiversity loss. The 30x30 plan would try to slow that by protecting intact natural areas like old-growth forests and wetlands, which not only nurture biodiversity but also store carbon and filter water.

Media sources reported that the donations for conservation programs will primarily be used in areas housing local communities and indigenous people. However, the names of the organizations that will receive the grants are yet to be disclosed.

As per CNBC, BEF had earlier pledged $203.7 million by the end of 2021 to organizations that are advancing towards climate justice. Reports further suggested that this announcement followed the previous donation of $790 million that the body had channelled to 16 different organisations.

Image courtesy: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg