Monaco and Germany pledge $10 million to save the world’s corals
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On 28 January, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation pledged to support the conservation of coral reefs. Together, they will donate over 10 million dollars to the Global Fund for Corals (GFCR).
Coral reefs are among the world’s most endangered ecosystems. Over one billion people depend on these species for survival, yet over half of them have already been destroyed. How? Climate change, over-fishing and growing local pressures. However, the damage could be undone, if proven projects were carried out on a large scale.
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As such, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation will both be participating in a fundraising campaign to help protect the reefs. Launched by the Global Fund for Corals (GFCR), the campaign will run until the UN Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, November 2021.
Having ‘global funding’ for coral reefs is a really important step towards the protection of these ecosystems
Dr. Gerd Müller, German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development
A new financial approach to funding conservation
Introduced in 2018 by the Prince Albert II Foundation and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, a new blended finance mechanism has been developed to fund conservation. Now, public and philanthropic funding will be used to fund a common goal: the protection and restoration of coral reefs.
Since 2018, GFCR has become a global partnership, comprised of: member states (Germany), charity organisations (Prince Albert II Foundation and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation), UN Agencies (UNDP, UNEP and UNCDF) and financial institutions (BNP Paribas and Mirova).