Conservationists get a billion dollars. Here’s how it may help. (from National Geographic)
October 31, 2018
BY SARAH GIBBENS | OCTOBER 31, 2018
Humans are rapidly taming the world’s wild places.
In the past century, nearly 80 percent of all land has been modified or impacted by human development. As a result, other species have rapidly declined. One study estimates animals are going extinct 1,000 times faster than they would have without human influence.
To fight that growing trend, conservation groups are increasingly turning to converting biologically rich lands into conservation plots like national parks and marine protected areas. Today, the Wyss Foundation, a charity focused on protecting wild places, announced they are donating $1 billion to launch the Wyss Campaign for Nature.
Hansjörg Wyss says the money will go toward a U.N. goal to protect 30 percent of the Earth by 2030. Wyss is partnering with the National Geographic Society, the Nature Conservancy, and Argentine conservation group Fundacion Flora y Fauna.
How will the donation work?
One of the four initiatives under the campaign will focus on empowering local groups to take up stewardship of their land in their region.
