Funding will enable locally led restoration of 600,000 hectares critical for climate and livelihoods<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NAIROBI, Sept. 5, 2023 \u2014 The Bezos Earth Fund today announces $22.8 million to accelerate the restoration of two African landscapes critical for carbon sequestration, biodiversity and human wellbeing: the Greater Rift Valley in Kenya and the Lake Kivu and Rusizi River Basin in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bezos Earth Fund President and CEO Andrew Steer announced this funding at the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. His announcement followed remarks by Her Excellency Mrs. Rachel Ruto, First Lady of Kenya, and Her Excellency Pastor Dr. Dorcas Rigathi, Second Lady of Kenya, emphasizing restoration\u2019s vital role in empowering the most vulnerable people to transform their landscapes and livelihoods. First Lady Ruto announced a bold vision to mobilize African First Ladies as champions of grassroots, women-led restoration across the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The funding is part of the Earth Fund\u2019s\u00a0$1 billion commitment<\/a>\u00a0to landscape restoration globally. It also adds to the $42.2 million granted previously to accelerate Africa\u2019s restoration movement, known as AFR100, and complements recent funding from\u00a0The Audacious Project<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Norway\u2019s International Climate and Forest Initiative<\/a>\u00a0(NICFI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfrica is home to the world\u2019s largest restoration opportunity and is a critical player in the global fight against climate change, nature loss, and poverty,\u201d said Dr. Steer. \u201cThirty-four African countries have put forward an ambitious vision to restore 100 million hectares<\/a> of degraded land by 2030. With these grants we are proud to support the next generation of African institutions that are at the heart of the continent\u2019s restoration movement and begin the vital work of leveraging philanthropy into private investment in restoration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The grants, which are still in process, will enable the restoration of 600,000 hectares of degraded land in the Greater Rift Valley, home to Kenya\u2019s water towers and a breadbasket for the region, and the Lake Kivu and Rusizi River Basin, part of the second-largest rainforest in the world and home to five million people. Restoration at this scale can sequester 42 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2050, the equivalent of taking more than 9.3 million gasoline-powered vehicles off the road per year. The grants will:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLocally led and managed restoration efforts are more likely to deliver long term success and can bring climate and biodiversity benefits along with economic prosperity for communities. The bottom line is without local leadership, local wisdom, and passion, scaling restoration across Africa would be impossible,\u201d said Wanjira Mathai, the Earth Fund\u2019s advisor for Africa and Managing Director at the World Resources Institute. \u201cAlready, Africa is home to some of our planet\u2019s greatest restoration successes, and this funding will support locally led restoration to re-green our beautiful African continent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfrica is at the forefront of the restoration economy. Thousands of entrepreneurs across the continent are demonstrating that landscape restoration is not just good for the environment, but creates jobs and generates economic returns,\u201d said Mamadou Diakhit\u00e9, Head of the Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability Division at the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and lead of the AFR100 Secretariat. \u201cThese kinds of green jobs are essential for Africa\u2019s youth. Africa is a young continent and an entrepreneurial one. We are ready for investment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grants in process announced today include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n To learn more about the Earth Fund\u2019s restoration work, click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n