The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation today announced a $50 million expansion of its Andes Amazon Initiative. Since 2003, the foundation has funded efforts to secure the biodiversity conservation and climate function of the biome through support for protected areas and indigenous territories. The new funding will address infrastructure development — specifically roads and dams — as a key driver of environmental degradation in the region, and will integrate forest and freshwater conservation.
“New roads and dams in the region may be necessary for national energy goals and for community and economic development in the region,” explained Avecita Chicchón, Ph.D., program director for the Andes-Amazon Initiative. “But these must be well planned and carefully selected with true cost accounting, so that projects minimize negative social and environmental impacts and maximize benefits.”
The Amazon provides one-fifth of the world’s fresh water, holds global importance as a carbon sink and climate regulator, and is home to the planet’s most diverse collection of birds, mammals, freshwater fish and plants. A wellspring of hope on a rapidly changing planet, the Amazon biome is a source of life-giving resources and ecosystem services.
“In our work to safeguard globally significant, intact natural ecosystems, we see an opportunity and urgency in the Andes-Amazon region,” said Aileen Lee, chief program officer for Environmental Conservation at Moore. “With a current confluence of local, national and international attention on infrastructure development plans, we seek to foster conditions that will safeguard protected area durability and long-term, basin-wide forest cover and free-flowing rivers.”
Guarding ecosystem resilience and health for the region requires that the bulk of its interconnected watersheds and forest cover remain intact. Over the last two decades, new protected areas and indigenous lands, sustainable land-use policies and improved management slowed the rate of deforestation dramatically. Significant threats remain, however, and while 56 percent of the Amazonian forest cover is under some form of protection now, nearly 20 percent has already been lost to activities including logging, infrastructure development, cattle ranching, soy farming and mining. Large investments in transportation and energy infrastructure (roads, waterways, dams), currently planned, have the potential to transform the Amazon basin irreversibly, fragmenting terrestrial and freshwater systems and paving the way for further environmental degradation.
Long a priority for the foundation, work will also continue to ensure that a core set of indigenous lands, protected areas and their surroundings are managed effectively. The expanded strategy recognizes the importance of infrastructure development for improving livelihoods in the region, while accounting for the conservation value of freshwater and addressing the socio-environmental threats posed by poorly planned roads and dams. Without careful planning, infrastructure slated for development in the next two decades could endanger the conservation gains of the last two.
Today’s pledge extends the authorized term of the Andes-Amazon Initiative through the end of 2021, bringing the total funding commitment since 2003 to more than $500 million.
About the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation fosters path-breaking scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvements, and preservation of the special character of the Bay Area. Follow @MooreFound or visit www.moore.org.
Message sent
Thank you for sharing.