Leonardo DiCaprio and Jeff Bezos Help Launch $200 Million Fund to Protect the Amazon

Charna Flam
·2 min read
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The Protecting Our Planet (POP) Challenge announced Friday its new partnership with the Brazilian government to invest $200 million in support of the expansion and management of Brazil’s protected areas and Indigenous territories.

Over the next four years, the $200 million donation will be utilized to help Brazil achieve zero deforestation in the Amazon and accelerate the South American country’s transition to a sustainable and green economy.

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The new coalition is working closely with Brazil’s Minister of the Environment, Minister of Indigenous Peoples, nine Amazon states and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Re:wild conservation nonprofit and Jeff Bezos’ Nature Solutions of the Bezos Earth Fund.

“We are inspired by Brazil’s ambitious goals for protecting the Amazon, one of the most important places for wildlife on the planet, and are thrilled to be able to support these efforts through the Protecting Our Planet Challenge,” DiCaprio said in a statement Friday.

Cristián Samper, managing director and leader of Nature Solutions of the Bezos Earth Fund, said, “The Amazon is critical for the future of global biodiversity and climate, and we welcome the commitment from President Lula and the Government of Brazil to protect it.”

Samper continued, “We are pleased to support the designation and management of protected areas and Indigenous territories as a key part of the strategy to reduce deforestation, along with new economic models of development based on the conservation and sustainable use of the forest.”

The commitment aims to ensure zero deforestation in the Amazon, safeguarding 145 million acres of the Amazon’s undesignated public lands, strengthening the management of existing protected areas and the rights of the Indigenous peoples, as well as combat both deforestation in protected Indigenous lands and cutting down forests for cattle.

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