Climate
Jeff Bezos lands in Colombia, vows to protect Amazon from climate change
Jeff Bezos arrived in Colombia on Thursday and met with President Ivan Duque to discuss his commitment to the #30x30 initiative – a move to protect 30% of the planet’s land and sea by 2030
March 3, 2022 7:01pm
Updated: March 4, 2022 3:22pm
American billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos arrived in Colombia on Thursday and met with President Ivan Duque to discuss his commitment to the #30x30 initiative – a move to protect 30% of the planet’s land and sea by 2030.
After landing in the South America country, Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez were flown by helicopter to the Serranía de Chiribiquete National Park in the Colombian Amazon where President Duque hoped to show them the progress his government had made in fighting the climate crisis – and the various projects which stand to benefit marginalized indigenous communities “all within the framework of the commitments we set as a country to reduce CO2 emissions in 2030 and be carbon neutral in 2050.”
Muy gratificante recibir en Colombia a @JeffBezos, fundador de @BezosEarthFund, con quien realizamos una valiosa visita al Parque Nacional Natural Serranía de Chiribiquete, donde constatamos los espacios que requieren una conservación integral, de cara a nuestra agenda ambiental. pic.twitter.com/bjPQe8UBBS
— Iván Duque 🇨🇴 (@IvanDuque) March 4, 2022
Bezos, through his Bezos Earth Fund, has shown interest in working with Duque and has already agreed to provide financial support to Colombia in order to implement the “30x30 strategy.”
According to Sanchez, the fund “has already committed $171 million to conserving and restoring the Tropical Andes.”
The Serranía de Chiribiquete is known as a sacred indigenous cultural center as well as an archeological and biological treasure where La Lindosa cave paintings can be found.
It also plays a key role in reducing vulnerability to the effects of global climate change by providing 31% of the Amazon’s surface water, with an estimated water supply of 70.264 billion cubic meters.
Duque and Bezos have met on previous occasions, including in Washington and at COP-26 in Glasgow in 2021, where the businessman expressed his intention to support the cause of the conservation of Colombia's environmental heritage.
