By Eric Delvin, Emerald Edge Program Director
Today the Bezos Earth Fund has committed $100 million to The Nature Conservancy to support work to tackle climate change in North America and India and scale nature-based solutions to climate change around the world.
Of that, $20 million will support Indigenous-led conservation and carbon sequestration through our Emerald Edge program. The Emerald Edge is the largest intact temperate rainforest on earth, spanning Washington, British Columbia and Southeast Alaska.
Surveying freshwater streams for salmon in the rainforest on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska. These forests are hugely important for people, salmon and carbon storage. © TNC/Erica Nortemann
This is a transformative gift that will enable us to directly support First Nations authority and stewardship for one of the most important places on the planet. It’s an unparalleled opportunity to mitigate climate change in a way that supports the authority, the cultures and the economies of the people who have stewarded these lands and waters since time immemorial.
These rainforests harbor globally significant biodiversity and carbon stores. The average annual rainfall of more than 115 inches results in huge, long-lived trees which are not affected by the pests and fires of many forests in Western North American. These forests are poised to continue accumulating and storing greenhouse gases, making their conservation a winning strategy for mitigating climate change.
$15 million will be dedicated to our work in Clayoquot Sound to support the First Nations’ visions for their territories, which will permanently conserve 85 percent of the old growth forests and more than double the amount of protected area in the sound. Clayoquot Sound lies in the territories of Ahousaht, Hesquiaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations, which have been working for years to develop and advance Land Use Visions that reflect their cultural, economic and environmental priorities. The three-year funding will support their work to permanently protect and manage more than 250,000 acres of the last stands of unprotected, intact old-growth forests on Vancouver Island, most of which are still at risk of being logged. The project will also conserve more than 47M tons of standing carbon and sequester an additional 3.5 million tons of CO2.
Building on the work in Clayoquot Sound, $5M of the funding will be used to accelerate additional climate mitigation work across the Emerald Edge. TNC will work with Tribes and First Nations in Washington, Alaska and British Columbia and other partners to identify and accelerate opportunities for living carbon reserves throughout the 100 million acres of the Emerald Edge.
The Earth Fund grant to The Nature Conservancy will also invest in rural agriculture in India, ensuring solutions are accessible to small and marginalized landowner, and help develop tools to identify and scale the most effective, community-based climate solutions around the world.
“We’re grateful for this gift from the Bezos Earth Fund, which will give a tremendous boost to effort to protect and restore the forests of the Emerald Edge,” said Mike Stevens, our state director.
“We welcome the momentum required to move the needle on true, deep and lasting impact on climate change. This is joyous news, and a joyous time for climate to take its place on center stage – beginning with those most affected by climate change. We look forward to living up to the incredible commitment and work that current and future generations demand of each of us.”
Banner photo Clayoquot Sound © Bryan Evans
