Earlier this year on the 22nd September, a $5 billion funding announcement was made by a group of nine separate organizations, with a pledge to support the creation, expansion, management and monitoring of protected land and conserved areas. The fund will also support and work with local communities, civil society and governments to help achieve this.
The aim of the new commitment is to help to tackle the Earth’s climate, extinction and health crises, with targets to protect 30% of the planet and preserve the most important places for biodiversity by the year 2030. Some of the charitable groups involved in the commitment include:
- Bloomberg Philanthropie.
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
- Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.
- Bezos Earth Fund
- Rainforest Trust
- Re:Wild
- Wyss Foundation
- Rob and Melani Walton Foundation
- Nia Tero
In addition to launching the Protecting Our Planet Challenge, many private funders are also supporting other projects around the globe that will contribute towards the initiative. This is certainly a step in the right direction, as according to Re:Wild, previous studies have shown that conserving and safe guarding these areas is an extremely cost effective way to protect nature and climate, allowing more species of plants and animals to survive. Clean water and carbon stocks would also be better protected via this method, again allowing species to thrive.
“For our grandchildren and their grandchildren to inherit a balanced, functioning planet, we have to rapidly slow the rate at which our economies are destroying nature,” said Hansjörg Wyss, Founder and Chairman of the Wyss Foundation. “This challenge is why I continue working alongside local communities, Indigenous Peoples, and nations to quickly narrow the enormous gap between how little of the natural world is protected and how much needs to be protected.”