Bezos Earth Fund joins others to pledge $12.5 million for Guyana forests
The funding will support the permanent protection of the Acarai–Rupununi Corridor and help Guyana meet its 2030 conservation targets.
Jeff Bezos’s Earth Fund, the Andes Amazon Fund, Nia Tero, and Rainforest Trust have announced a collective initial pledge of $12.5 million to support conservation plans in Guyana, according to the Times of India.
The funding aims to support the proposed permanent protection of the Acarai–Rupununi Corridor, which covers more than 1 million hectares, or approximately 2.4 million acres. The money will help secure legal protection, establish boundaries, and safeguard the landscape against industrial logging, mining, and other incompatible activities.
The commitment follows an announcement by President Irfaan Ali that Guyana would advance the process of permanently protecting the corridor. President Ali said that forest stewardship is the foundation of the development model the country is building.
Conservation organisations and other eligible partners will implement the funding by working with the government, local communities, and Indigenous Peoples. The partners stated that projects would uphold Indigenous rights, including the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent.
The initiative is part of Guyana’s wider ambition to protect 30 per cent of its lands and waters by 2030. Padu Franco, senior programme manager for the Andes and Amazon at the Bezos Earth Fund, said the pledge backs Guyana’s conservation ambitions and Indigenous stewardship.
The donors noted that reaching the 2030 goal would require substantially greater, sustained investment from public, private, and philanthropic sources. They have invited additional funders to contribute as Guyana develops the protection plan.