Nine organizations pledge over $500m to save species — Mongabay

The Bezos Earth Fund and eight other organizations have pledged to allocate more than $500 million over five years to save the most vulnerable plant and animal species. The creation of the Species Recovery Alliance was announced on October 16 at the UN biodiversity summit COP17 in Yerevan, Armenia, Mongabay reports.

Coordinating funding

The alliance will not create a single joint fund. Its members will coordinate investments and conservation efforts, supporting projects through conservation organizations and local partners. The coalition includes Re:wild, Rainforest Trust and Fondation Segré, among others.

Christian Samper, managing director and head of nature solutions at the Bezos Earth Fund, said the initiative arose from concerns that the expansion of protected areas was pushing aside the urgent needs of species threatened with extinction. According to him, the recovery of many such species requires targeted measures.

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Not all funding is new

Not all of the announced amount is new funding: about one-third of the more than $500 million consists of additional new funds. The announcement also complements the $200 million Phoenix Species Project, which the Bezos Earth Fund launched in August to restore 100 critically endangered species in 30 countries.

Target 4 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework calls for urgent action to halt human-induced species extinctions and restore species. According to WWF's 2026 Living Planet Report, monitored vertebrate populations declined by an average of 73% between 1970 and 2022, and by 80% in Africa.

The alliance's effectiveness will be assessed based on actual species recovery, using indicators from the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Samper noted that results for species with slow reproduction may appear only after decades.