Pacific Island leaders, including Palau President Surangel Whipps, announced Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos’s commitment of USD 100 million to the Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity (UBPP) initiative.
Tonga Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni, Fiji Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lesikimacuata Korovavala, and more also announced the launch this week at the climate summit in Dubai that the initiative will cover 100 percent of the “Blue Pacific Continent,” an area of the ocean covering more than 1 billion hectares.
Whipps said at the launch that the initiative was an effort to protect and rejuvenate the region’s ecosystems and empower communities through to the year 2050—in what is considered the biggest single conservation effort in history—Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity.
No one knows better than us about what works and what hasn’t worked in the Blue Pacific… Despite major efforts by our Pacific communities and long-standing international partners, development and environmental outcomes in the Pacific are not happening at the pace or scale needed to protect the planet or meet our regional needs. The world is not on track to meet any of the 17 sustainable development goals or climate goals by 2030. The Blue Pacific has a pivotal role in correcting the global course by achieving urgent global environmental commitments, including 30 by 30.”
The Bezos Earth Fund release said that the UBPP will protect 30 percent of the “continent,” which covers an area five times the size of the entire U.S.
Announcing the $100 million donation, CEO and President of Bezos Earth Fund, Andrew Steer, praised the Pacific Community for “dreaming big, aiming high, and working together”—a quote he attributed to Whipps, as he praised the Pacific community for what will be the biggest conservation effort in the history of 1 billion hectares.
“This is nowhere enough, but it is important to all of us. If there was ever a time for multilateralism, this is it,” he said.