Abu Dhabi: The UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has announced a contribution of $40m to the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund (MBZ Fund).
Razan Al Mubarak, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28 and Managing Director of the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, announced while speaking to attendees of the Asian Venture Philanthropy Forum (AVPN) Global Conference 2024 at the St. Regis on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi.
Since its founding by the President in 2009, 170 counties’ local species conservation initiatives have benefited from funding provided by the MBZ Fund. The Fund will have an endowment of more than $70 million thanks to the additional gift by 2028.
“The establishment of the Fund and this additional support for the endowment demonstrate the President’s keen interest in the natural world and underscore the UAE’s long-term commitment to nature and species conservation,” said Al Mubarak.
An evaluation of the Fund’s accomplishments and activities led to the decision to more than double the original endowment. Since its inception, the funding program has helped local efforts to conserve species in 170 nations on all seven continents, including Antarctica.
The Fund’s small grants program, which provides up to $25,000 for each project to support direct species conservation projects, is entirely funded by the Fund’s endowment. Funded by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, which monitors the conservation status of 157,100 species in nine categories, the program focuses on the most vulnerable species on the planet: those classified as Endangered or Critically Endangered.
Projects centered on species that the IUCN lists as Data Deficient, species about which little is known but which are probably in danger of going extinct, are also supported by the small grants program.