Billionaire Jeff Bezos through his Bezos Earth Fund on Tuesday, September 5 donated Ksh3.3 billion to help restore the greater Rift Valley and the Lake Kivu and Rusizi River Basin in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi.
The donation was made public by Bezos Earth Fund President and CEO Andrew Steer at the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya.
His announcement followed the well-articulated need to restore the greater Rift Valley by Kenyan leaders attending the summit led by First Lady Rachel Ruto and Second Lady Dorcas Rigathi. The two emphasized that restoration of the greater Rift Valley was key to empowering the most vulnerable people to change their livelihoods.
“Africa is home to the world’s largest restoration opportunity and is a critical player in the global fight against climate change, nature loss, and poverty,” Steer stated making the donation.
“Thirty-four African countries have put forward an ambitious vision to restore 100 million hectares 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’s restoration movement and begin the vital work of leveraging philanthropy into private investment in restoration,” he added.
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’s 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, Earth Bezos Fund website stated.
Locals will also benefit as the donation will help them learn remote sensing, restoration techniques, nursery management, marketing, and financial management.
“Locally 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,” stated Wanjira Mathai, the Earth Fund’s advisor for Africa and Managing Director at the World Resources Institute.
Other grassroots will also be empowered through the fund which is run by billionaire Jeff Bezos.
Besides philanthropy, Bezos is a renowned media proprietor and investor. He is the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce and cloud computing company.
