Nine funders, $500 million, one promise: the most threatened species get a rescue alliance of their own

In Yerevan, Armenia, nine funders and conservation groups stood up together at the COP17 biodiversity summit and committed more than $500 million over five years to bring the world's most threatened species back from the edge. The new Species Recovery Alliance — Ayers Wild Cat Conservation Trust, Bezos Earth Fund, Colossal Foundation, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Fondation Segré, Franklinia Foundation, Rainforest Trust, Re:wild and WildLives Earth — will coordinate its money instead of scattering it, aiming it at the more than 31,000 species the IUCN lists as extinct in the wild, critically endangered or endangered. 'For too long, species recovery has not received the same level of attention and investment as efforts to address climate change,' said Re:wild co-founder Wes Sechrest. Alongside it, 17 governments led by Colombia and Armenia launched their own coalition to speed national recovery work. The money is a commitment, not yet a recovery — but it is the largest coordinated rescue effort threatened species have ever had behind them.

SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: funding & finance