Gabon: Why did Jeff Bezos congratulate president Ali Bongo Ondimba

President Ali Bongo with Jeff Bezos and his spouse Sanchez Tuesday 12 July in Libreville © Twitter/Ali Bongo Ondimba

The multibillionaire and founder of Amazon, who’s also very active in protecting forests and biodiversity through his foundation, The Bezos Earth Fund, met this July, 12 in Libreville, with president of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba, who’s considered as one of the most committed head of state in the world on climate issues.

« With Jeff Bezos, this July, 12 in Libreville. Such a great moment! », wrote Ali Bongo Ondimba on Twitter and Facebook. 

« We discussed the most effective way to preserve the climate, forest and biodiversity », added the gabonese president.

« Gabon and the Bezos Earth Fund  share a common vision and ambition: to leave our children a livable planet », he concluded.

Jeff Bezos arrived in Gabon Monday and left Wednesday in the early hours of the morning. In the meantime, he, Tuesday at the Palais Rénovation, met with president Ali Bongo Ondimba. He congratulated him for his « deeply and sincere commitment to protect the environnement ». 

During his nearly three-days-stay in Gabon, Jeff Bezos also met with the charismatic minister of Environnement, Lee White, and visited several protected areas, included the Loango Park, famous tanks to a documentary recently brocasted on Netflix with Barack Obama’voice.

The Bezos Earth Fund supports actively and financially Gabon, which is considered as a model country in the world for reduced deforestation and forest degradation emissions.

Gabon is leading the way by maintaining its status of High Forest Cover Low Deforestation (HFLD) countries with its forest management approach that is science-based and evidentiary robust. Gabon is committed to reducing CO2 emissions even further.

The Bezos Earth Fund has committed $35 million to support Gabon through the project Financing for Permanence initiative in partnership with the Nature Conservancy and the government. The funding is part of $110 million granted to support conservation in the Congo Basin.