The Bezos Earth Fund has committed more than $25 million in new grants to protect marine ecosystems across the Pacific, marking the second round of a $100 million regional pledge as the philanthropic organisation confronts a looming deadline to distribute the bulk of its $10 billion climate commitment.
The grants, announced on 17 September, will support ocean conservation across the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu, covering an area exceeding 625,000 square miles — larger than Alaska. The funding forms part of the fund's «Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity» initiative, which aims to sustainably manage the region's waters and protect at least 30 per cent of them by 2030.
The latest round brings total awards under the Pacific pledge to $63.3 million, following an initial $37.5 million disbursed in 2025. The programme is being led by Lauren Sánchez Bezos, who has served as the fund's vice chair since its early days and has become an increasingly prominent figure in the couple's philanthropy since marrying Jeff Bezos in June 2025.
Specific projects include helping Papua New Guinea establish its first large offshore marine protected area, expanding protected zones in Tonga, and supporting the Cook Islands' Marae Moana ocean park. Grants will also fund habitat protection planning in Kiribati and Vanuatu. A separate grant to conservation group Rare will assist Pacific governments in drafting some of the first protection proposals for the high seas under the UN's High Seas Treaty, which took effect in January and establishes a legal framework for protecting marine biodiversity in international waters.
Marine protected areas restrict activities within designated ocean zones, with the strictest categories banning fishing, mining and other extractive industries outright, according to the MPA Guide framework developed with the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
«Out there, the ocean isn't just a beautiful view,» Sánchez Bezos said in a statement. «It's the road, the pantry, the backyard.»
The fund said it is already seeing results. Seventeen of the region's 22 countries are now working to protect and sustainably manage their waters. Among first-round recipients, French Polynesia created the world's largest network of fully protected marine areas earlier this year, covering nearly 625,000 square miles, while Niue has protected 40 per cent of its national waters.
The work comes amid worsening conditions in the South-West Pacific. The World Meteorological Organization reported in July that the vast ocean expanse is becoming hotter and more acidic, harming local economies and marine ecosystems. The region experienced its second-warmest year on record in 2025, with marine heatwaves disrupting fisheries.
«Across Asia and the Pacific, heat is intensifying multi-hazard risks, intersecting with food systems, public health, infrastructure and oceans, and placing new pressures on health and livelihoods,» said Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
The Pacific grants form part of a busy period for the Bezos Earth Fund. Since April, it has announced $34 million for sustainable fabric development, $26 million for wildfire detection and prevention, $100 million to convert vacant urban land into parks across eight US cities, and $100 million for a joint effort with Leonardo DiCaprio's Re:wild to protect threatened species.
Yet the fund faces a substantial challenge in meeting its founder's original pledge. Jeff Bezos committed $10 billion to fight climate change through 2030 in 2020. Nearly seven years later, the fund has granted approximately $2.4 billion, leaving about $7.6 billion to distribute in just over four years — an average of roughly $1.8 billion annually.
Officials told Bloomberg in May they remain committed to giving away the full sum by 2030. Grantmaking has rebounded to at least $400 million this year after falling to $183 million in 2025.
«We take the time before getting into an area to understand it and make sure we're having the greatest impact that we possibly can,» said Kelly Levin, chief of science, data and systems change at the Bezos Earth Fund.
The scale of the remaining commitment is modest relative to Bezos's personal wealth. He is worth approximately $272 billion, making him the world's fourth-richest person according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Forbes estimates the couple's lifetime giving at about $4.7 billion. Bezos has previously acknowledged the difficulty of effective philanthropy, telling CNN in 2022: «It's not easy. Building Amazon was not easy. I'm finding that charity, philanthropy, is very similar.»