Nine Private Funders Pledge More Than $500 Million to Recover Threatened Species at COP17
On October 16, 2026, at COP17, the UN's 17th biodiversity conference, in Yerevan, Armenia, nine private funders announced the Species Recovery Alliance and a commitment of more than $500 million over five years. The money targets species that the IUCN Red List (the International Union for Conservation of Nature's global inventory of extinction risk) classes as extinct in the wild, critically endangered, or endangered.
That list is long. The alliance's release cites more than 31,000 species in those three categories, and more than 10 percent of them have fewer than 50 individuals left.
Money Aimed at Species the Usual Tools Miss
Habitat protection is conservation's standard first tool, and the release says it falls short for many species. It cites research finding that 57 percent of threatened species also need targeted interventions, such as conservation breeding or invasive species control. Cristián Samper of the Bezos Earth Fund said: "Protected areas alone cannot save every endangered species."
The nine founding members are 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. They will not pool their money. The release says members will coordinate and align their investments, work with local partners, and track progress with the IUCN Red List and its Green Status of Species. Their stated aim is to become the largest coordinated philanthropic effort for threatened species recovery.
A Government Coalition Launched the Same Day
Armenia and Colombia launched the Coalition of Action to Recover Endangered Species (CARES) on October 16, with the two countries as co-chairs. Re:wild's release puts the founding governments at 17, while the Colombian environment ministry lists 16 by name, including Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, and the United Kingdom. Members intend to identify species that need recovery support beyond habitat protection, with measurable progress by 2030. The alliance's money is separate from CARES, but both back Target 4 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which concerns preventing extinctions and recovering threatened species.
📍 Multiple Perspectives on the Species Recovery Alliance
Making Recovery a Global Priority
Wes Sechrest, co-founder and CEO of Re:wild, said the alliance aims to make recovery of threatened species a global conservation priority. James Deutsch, CEO of Rainforest Trust, pointed to what makes the work urgent. Unlike most other environmental loss, he said, an extinction cannot be reversed.
Hands-On Work for the Smallest Populations
The Phoenix Species Project, a partnership of the Bezos Earth Fund and Re:wild, already aims to recover 100 threatened species across 30 countries, so the alliance starts with a working program to build on. Conservation breeding and invasive species control take people on the ground, which is why the release stresses local partners. Members will report results against the IUCN Red List, an outside yardstick they do not control.
Public and Private Efforts Pointed the Same Way
CARES gives governments a shared channel for species recovery, with Colombia and Armenia as co-chairs. The Colombian ministry says Reverse the Red, an IUCN-linked partnership, serves as its secretariat. The private alliance and the government coalition were announced the same day as separate efforts.
A Large Pledge Beside a Larger Gap
This is our reading of the facts, not a claim by the sources. The Associated Press, citing OECD data, reported that biodiversity funding ran between $75 billion and $92 billion a year from 2023 to 2025, less than half the $200 billion a year targeted for 2030. At more than $100 million a year, the alliance's pledge equals roughly 0.1 percent of that annual total (our arithmetic). The release's figures come from the funders themselves, the amount is a commitment and not money spent, and the Bezos Earth Fund's individual share was not disclosed. The sources reviewed also do not name which species come first.
Small Next to Total Nature Funding
The Associated Press framed the broader summit as one where fundraising is falling short. A UN report found fewer than half of countries' biodiversity targets on track, and aid to poorer countries reached $19 billion in 2024, just under the 2025 goal. Schomaker, the convention's executive secretary, said the world is not moving fast enough.
Against that backdrop, $500 million cannot close the gap, and the alliance does not claim to. Its target is a defined list of species where, by its own account, habitat protection alone does not do the job. The nine members will align their spending on that list instead of each funding separately.
What Is Known and What Is Still Open
Known: nine named funders committed more than $500 million over five years, pointed it at a defined group of Red List species, and said they will report against IUCN tools. Governments launched a parallel coalition on the same day.
Open: how much each member gives, which species get funded first, and what counts as success. COP17 negotiations run October 19 to 30, and the alliance's first reports against the Red List will show whether coordinated spending moves any species out of its category.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Species Recovery Alliance?
It is an alliance of nine private funders announced on October 16, 2026 at the COP17 biodiversity summit in Yerevan, Armenia. The members are 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. They commit more than $500 million over five years and aim to become the largest coordinated philanthropic effort for threatened species recovery.
Which species does the alliance focus on?
Species the IUCN Red List classes as extinct in the wild, critically endangered, or endangered. The alliance's release cites more than 31,000 such species, and says more than 10 percent of them have fewer than 50 individuals remaining.
Is the $500 million pooled into one fund?
No. According to the Rainforest Trust release, members will coordinate and align their investments instead of pooling their funding. They plan to work with local partners and track progress with the IUCN Red List and Green Status of Species.
What is still unknown about the pledge?
The sources reviewed do not say how much each member is giving, which species will be funded first, or how the alliance will count success beyond using IUCN tools. The figure is a commitment, not money already spent.