A Swiss billionaire donates $ 1 billion to try to preserve the world's land and wild waters

Matthew Brown / APOn October 8, 2018, we see the Emigrant Summit rising above the Paradise Valley and the Yellowstone River near Emigrant (Montana).

• Only 15% of the Earth's land and 7% of the oceans have been protected in the natural state.
• Some scientists say that a majority of wildlife species will disappear if humans do not conserve at least 50% of the Earth.
• Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss is committed to paying a billion dollars to protect 30% of the planet by 2030.
• Wyss had already donated $ 450 million to protect wildlife on nearly 40 million acres around the world.

A Swiss philanthropic foundation will donate a billion dollars for the conservation of the land and oceans of the planet, with the goal of increasing the availability of clean air and clean water .

Hansjörg Wyss, a billionaire and environmental advocate, wrote Wednesday in a New York Times editorial that he would be giving money over the next 10 years through his Wyss Foundation. . Land and water are better preserved when they become public national parks, wildlife sanctuaries or marine reserves, writes Wyss. It aims to help conserve 30% of the Earth in the natural state by 2030.

According to researchers at Brown University, animal and plant species disappear 1,000 times faster than before human activity. A recent study by PNAS predicted that in the next 50 years, many mammal species will disappear so that the evolutionary diversity of the planet will not recover before 5 million years.

Some scientists say that at least 50% of the Earth must be protected in order to avoid losing the majority of plant and animal species. To date, however, only 15% of the planet's land and 7% of the oceans have been protected in the natural state.

The Wyss Campaign will support local efforts to better manage parks and protected areas. Wyss will also sponsor research at the University of Bern, Switzerland, so that scientists can determine the most effective and feasible conservation methods.

Read more: One study found that so many animals will disappear over the next 50 years that it will take at least 3 million years to Earth to recover.

Wyss had previously contributed to the protection of wildlife on about 40 million acres of land and oceans after giving over US $ 450 million in Africa, South America, North America and the United States. in Europe. Wyss is also one of many billionaires to have signed the Giving Pledge, a pledge to donate at least half of his fortune to a charity.

"All of us – citizens, philanthropists, businesses and government leaders – should be troubled by the huge gap that separates the little protection of our natural world from what we should protect," wrote Wyss. "This is a gap that we urgently need to reduce before our human footprint consumes the last wild sites on Earth."