The Bezos Earth Fund has announced grants totaling $50 million in support of conservation and sustainable development in the Brazilian Amazon.

Funding will support efforts to create and manage protected areas and Indigenous territories, detect and respond to forest fires, support economic development and jobs based on the forest, and build capacity for carbon markets. Grants include $30.9 million to create more than eight million hectares of protected area and improve the protection of 60 million hectares of tropical forests; $5 million to Re:wild to support the use of remote sensing to detect fires early, the training of forest guardians, equipment required to combat fires, and the mobilization of fire crews to impacted areas; $9.7 million to the Environmental Defense Fund to provide training and legal and logistical support to Indigenous and community leaders; and $6 million to Instituto Clima e Sociedade to establish a network of economic researchers and analysts to provide advice on policy design, investments, and business creation to support standing forests and provide economic opportunities for the people of the Amazon.

“The future of the Brazilian Amazon is critical to our planet and to the Indigenous Peoples and local communities who call it home,” said Bezos Earth Fund vice chair Lauren Sánchez. “Prosperity and sustainability can go hand in hand—protecting the Amazon rainforest is good for people and for the planet.”

In addition, Re:wild announced that the Protecting Our Planet Challenge, a partnership with the Brazilian government, has launched a four-year, $200 million effort to support the expansion and management of the country’s protected areas and Indigenous territories. Launched in 2021 by 11 philanthropies including Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund, Protecting Our Planet is helping to fund the efforts of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC) 30x30 goal to protect 30 percent of land and sea by 2030. Supported by 72 countries, the 30x30 campaign is focused on working with Indigenous peoples, local communities, civil society, and governments to prevent mass extinctions and bolster resilience to climate change.

“The Amazon is critical for the future of global biodiversity and climate, and we welcome the commitment from President Lula [Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva] and the Government of Brazil to protect it,” said Bezos Earth Fund managing director Cristián Samper. “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.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Anna Carolina Negri)