Amazon’s initial investment in the Accelerator will support 3,000 farmers and restore approximately 20,000 hectares
Amazon has announced the launch of Agroforestry and Restoration Accelerator in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental organisation. The Accelerator will create a more sustainable source of income for thousands of local farmers in the Brazilian Amazonian state of Pará, while also restoring native rainforests and fighting climate change by naturally trapping and storing carbon.
The Agroforestry and Restoration Accelerator is one such carbon removal project, and part of Amazon’s commitment to meeting The Climate Pledge, which the company co-founded with Global Optimism.
As part of its commitment to meet The Climate Pledge, Amazon is first and foremost continuing to innovate and invest in decarbonising its businesses.
Kara Hurst, Vice President of worldwide sustainability, Amazon Said, “We are proud to launch the agroforestry and restoration accelerator in partnership with The Nature Conservancy to support solutions that prioritize high environmental integrity and strong community benefits. Amazon is looking forward to contributing our passion for innovation along with financial support to improve the livelihoods of local communities in Brazil while helping to protect the planet for future generations.”
Amazon’s initial investment in the Accelerator will support 3,000 farmers and restore approximately 20,000 hectares—a landmass approximately the size of the City of Seattle—within three years, removing up to 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through 2050.
The Nature Conservancy will work together with the World Agroforestry Centre and several local civil society organisations to implement the Accelerator by helping small farmers restore degraded cattle pastures to native forest and agroforestry. The agroforestry systems will provide farmers with a sustainable source of income through the sale of cocoa and other crops. The Accelerator will also experiment with innovative ways to support farmers and nurture markets for sustainable forest-based commodities, including digital technologies, and will advance new methodologies and satellite-based technologies for quantifying and monitoring carbon removal.
