The Bezos Earth Fund has committed more than $25 million to ocean conservation in five Pacific nations, while about $7.6 billion remains from its founder’s $10 billion environmental pledge. The new grants lift awards under a broader $100 million Pacific commitment to $63.3 million.
The grants cover the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu. They’re meant to help governments protect marine territory and develop longer-term plans for managing their waters. Together, the projects aim to support protection and sustainable management across more than 625,000 square miles of ocean.
Who Controls the Waters
The latest funding marks the second round of the fund’s $100 million Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity commitment. The initiative aims to protect at least 30% of the region’s waters by 2030. The fund announced the first round, worth $37.5 million, in 2025.
Papua New Guinea expects to use its funding to create its first large offshore marine protected area, while Tonga is expanding protected areas. Other grants will support the Cook Islands’ Marae Moana ocean park and habitat protection planning in Kiribati and Vanuatu. Marine protected areas can impose different restrictions. The most tightly protected zones can prohibit fishing, mining and other extraction.
The programme also extends beyond national waters. A grant to conservation organisation Rare aims to help governments develop some of the first proposals to protect biodiversity in international waters under the UN High Seas Treaty, which took effect in January.
Livelihoods Under Pressure
Ocean warming and acidification are putting increasing pressure on the South-West Pacific. A July report from the World Meteorological Organization said these changes were affecting marine ecosystems and local economies. According to the WMO, the region had its second-warmest year on record in 2025, and marine heatwaves disrupted ecosystems and fisheries.
The effects reach food systems, infrastructure, public health and livelihoods. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, said, “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. Early warning and early action save lives when alerts are timely, messages are trusted and last-mile delivery reaches the vulnerable.”
After the latest awards, 17 of the Pacific’s 22 countries are working to protect or sustainably manage their waters, the Earth Fund said. Earlier this year, French Polynesia, a previous recipient, established what the fund described as the world’s largest network of fully protected marine areas. The network covers almost 625,000 square miles. Niue has protected 40% of its national waters.
A Fortune and a Philanthropic Pledge
Jeff Bezos pledged $10 billion through the fund in 2020 for climate and environmental causes, with the money intended for distribution by the end of 2030. The fund has awarded about $2.4 billion and says it remains committed to that deadline. Bloomberg reported in May that grantmaking climbed to at least $400 million during 2026, after dropping to $183 million in 2025.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index valued Bezos at about $273 billion on October 1, 2026, ranking him third at the time of the report. In a 2022 interview with CNN, Bezos described the difficulty of deciding how to direct charitable funds: “The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a levered way.” He added, “It’s not easy. Building Amazon was not easy. It took a lot of hard work, a bunch of very smart teammates, hard-working teammates, and I’m finding — and I think Lauren is finding the same thing — that charity, philanthropy, is very similar.”
Lauren Sánchez Bezos leads the latest Pacific grant round. She’s been vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund since its early period and announced the first round of Pacific grants in 2025. Kelly Levin, the organisation’s chief of science, data and systems change, said the fund takes time to understand an area before deciding where its money should go.