Multibillionaire Jeff Bezos has set aside $1 billion to conservation efforts, aiming to protect more than a quarter of the world's land and sea by 2030 as part of an undertaking to prevent mass extinctions.
The Amazon founder -- and one of the world's wealthiest men -- has around $10 billion allotted to various environmental and philanthropy programs under the Bezos Earth Fund, which he established last year.
The fund did not disclose the groups or initiatives it intends to back with the new donations. According to The New York Times' Nicholas Kulish, the conservation budget will go to places like the Andes, the Congo Basin, and tropical parts of the Pacific Ocean.
The pledge is a part of a previously announced donation to provide financial aid to scientists, activists and non-profit groups in the fight against climate change.
The Bezos Earth Fund's objective is to spend $10 billion by 2030. Following this year's priority on conservation, BEF said in the coming years it plans to back efforts around the food system transportation.
The grants will be prioritized in locations where indigenous peoples and local communities are the primary focus of conservation initiatives, the BEF said.
"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 in quotes Monday at an event in New York.
Earlier this month, BEF said it would donate $204 million by the end of 2021 to cause-oriented groups advancing climate justice, among other many causes.
That's after the fund awarded $790 million in total grants in 2020 to 16 organizations, including the Nature Conservancy, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
BEF is closely working with the United Kingdom, France and Costa Rica to help tackle a worldwide biodiversity crisis that puts a million species of animals and plants at risk of extinction.
In a statement, the Earth Fund said Bezos specifically aimed at conserving 30% of land and sea as it could protect up to 80% of plant and animal species, secure 60% of carbon stocks, and sustain around two-thirds of potable water.
