Bezos Dedicates $1 Bln To Nature Conservation

(RTTNews) - Former Amazon Inc (AMZN) founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has pledged $1 billion of his $10 billion climate funds to create, manage, and preserve biodiversity and reduce carbon imprint in multiple forests. Bezos will distribute the money to different organizations working in the Congo basin, Tropical Andes region, and in the continent of Oceania.

Referring to his space trip earlier in July, Bezos said on Monday, "Nature is our life support system and it's fragile. I was reminded of this just this July when I went into space with Blue Origin. I'd heard that seeing the Earth from space changes one's point of view of the world, but I was not prepared for just how much that would be true."

The ever-growing human population and the rapidly increasing waste problem have made it difficult to preserve nature and it does not come without consequences. Lately, natural disasters have increased at an alarming rate across the world and studies have found out that the emission of CO2 in the northern hemisphere has had a record increase this year. Talking about the current situation of nature, Bezos added, "When people hanker for the good old days and glamorize the past, they're almost always wrong. By most metrics, life is better than it was in the past. But there is a notable exception—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 pre-industrial age."

The grant will be given to the leading organizations that work with the preservation of biodiversity and the environment. According to reports, just acknowledging the Indigenous land claims across the globe can work as one of the biggest steps towards conservation in the world.

The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed praised the decision and said, "Conservation is one of the most effective anti-poverty strategies we have. I warmly welcome this generous commitment, which will help deliver the Sustainable Development Goals."

Amazon, one of the top three largest companies in the world, is also infamous for its carbon footprint. Due to lockdown, the global carbon emission dropped 7% last year but the e-retail giants saw their carbon footprint increase 19%. Amazon's cloud computing services company, AWS is also accused of using little renewable energy in major plants. However, an Amazon spokesperson contradicted the statement in an interview with Recode, saying, "To the contrary, Amazon is proud to be the world's largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy. We are on a path to power 100% of our business with renewable energy by 2025—five years ahead of our original target of 2030."

Bezos also added on the same note, "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. I hope this commitment inspires others to make their own pledges to protect and conserve nature and help in the fight against climate change."