The Bezos Earth Fund has given away $2.4 billion. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos’ latest $100M bet is saving species on the edge of extinction

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos are putting $100 million behind the idea that the world’s most endangered animals and plants can still be pulled back from extinction.

The Bezos Earth Fund is one of nine founding members of the new Species Recovery Alliance, a $500 million commitment announced Oct. 16 at the Leaders’ Summit of COP17, the UN biodiversity conference in Yerevan, Armenia, by Cristián Samper, the fund’s managing director and leader of nature solutions.

The Earth Fund is contributing $100 million of that total, a spokesperson told Fortune.

“We know how to bring species back from the brink,” Samper said in a statement to Fortune. “What too many conservation teams lack is reliable funding to keep that work going. Rebuilding a population can take years, and a break in support can put hard-won progress at risk.”

The other founding members are Leonardo DiCaprio’s Re:wild, Rainforest Trust, the Colossal Foundation, the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Fondation Segré, the Franklinia Foundation, the Ayers Wild Cat Conservation Trust, and WildLives Earth. 

Members won’t pool their money into a single fund. Instead, each will direct its own grants while coordinating with the others. The money will go to conservation groups and local........

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