Lauren Sanchez and Amazon's Jeff Bezos are pouring $25 million into a massive Pacific Ocean conservation project covering an area larger than Alaska

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Lauren Sanchez is highlighting a major new ocean conservation effort backed by the Bezos Earth Fund, as the organization founded by Jeff Bezos commits more than $25 million to protect and sustainably manage waters across five Pacific nations. The latest funding will support conservation projects in the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu, covering more than 625,000 square miles of ocean — an area larger than Alaska.

The new grants are part of the Bezos Earth Fund's broader $100 million commitment to Pacific-led ocean conservation and will also help governments develop proposals for protecting international waters under the UN High Seas Treaty.

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Lauren Sanchez connects Pacific experience to new ocean funding

Lauren Sanchez, vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, pointed to her own recent experience in the Pacific while discussing why protecting the region's oceans matters. In July, Sanchez shared photos and videos from a snorkeling and scuba-diving trip in Fiji, where she saw reefs surrounded by fish, sea turtles and reef sharks.

Her experience also gave her a closer look at the connection between healthy oceans and the communities that depend on them. In an Instagram video announcing the latest funding, Sanchez emphasized that Pacific communities have protected and cared for their waters for generations.

The new grants are designed to support those locally led conservation efforts rather than replace them.

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Bezos Earth Fund expands ocean conservation across five Pacific nations

The more than $25 million in new grants will fund different conservation priorities in each of the five countries.

In the Cook Islands, BirdLife International will help expand protections through the Marae Moana framework. The whole-of-ocean marine park already covers more than 734,000 square miles.

In Kiribati, Live & Learn Environmental Education will work on identifying important marine habitats, improving monitoring and enforcement, and advancing legal protection for priority areas.

Papua New Guinea will receive support from the Wildlife Conservation Society as the country works toward establishing its first large offshore marine protected area.

In Tonga, TierraMar will support the creation of new protected areas as the country works toward its goal of protecting 30% of its ocean.

And in Vanuatu, Live & Learn will help put the country's completed national marine spatial plan into action, including offshore conservation areas and community-led marine management.

New effort also focuses on international waters

The Bezos Earth Fund's latest investment goes beyond the waters controlled by individual Pacific nations.

A separate grant to Rare will bring Pacific governments together to develop some of the region's first marine protected area proposals for international waters under the UN High Seas Treaty.

The treaty entered into force in January 2026, creating a framework for protecting biodiversity in areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction.

That matters for marine animals that do not stay within one country's borders.

Whales, sharks, sea turtles and tuna can travel across vast stretches of the Pacific, moving between national waters and the high seas.

Conservation efforts therefore need to extend beyond individual marine protected areas if countries want to protect species throughout their migration routes.

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Funding will support monitoring and local communities

The latest grants are not focused only on creating new protected areas. The money will also support monitoring, enforcement, community stewardship and long-term financing.

That is important because designating an area as protected does not automatically guarantee that conservation rules will be followed.

Effective management can require continued monitoring, enforcement resources and cooperation with communities that rely on the ocean for food, employment and other parts of their livelihoods.

The Bezos Earth Fund says the broader Pacific initiative is intended to help countries develop conservation systems that can continue beyond the initial creation of protected areas.

Bezos Earth Fund has now committed $63.3 million

The latest grants bring the Bezos Earth Fund's total commitments under its $100 million Pacific initiative to $63.3 million.

The first round of funding, announced in 2025, provided $37.5 million through seven grants.

The organization has also supported conservation work in other Pacific locations, including French Polynesia and Niue.

Earlier this year, French Polynesia established what was described as the world's largest network of fully protected marine areas, covering nearly 625,000 square miles of ocean.

In Niue, about 40% of the country's national waters are already protected.

With the second round of Bezos Earth Fund funding, 17 of the Pacific's 22 countries and territories are now working on efforts to protect or sustainably manage their waters.

Why Pacific ocean protection matters

The Pacific is home to extensive coral reefs, marine habitats and migratory species, while coastal communities depend heavily on healthy ocean ecosystems.

That makes conservation a particularly regional issue.

A protected area created by one country may safeguard part of a species' habitat, but animals that travel hundreds or thousands of miles can still encounter threats outside those boundaries.

The new initiative therefore combines national conservation efforts with plans for protecting biodiversity in international waters.

Lauren Sanchez's involvement also puts a public face on the Bezos Earth Fund's latest conservation push, with her recent Pacific experience providing a personal connection to the region's marine ecosystems.

The fund's latest commitment represents another step toward its larger $100 million Pacific conservation goal, with more than $63 million now committed.

For the five countries receiving the latest grants, the funding will support different priorities — from new marine protected areas and habitat monitoring to enforcement, community stewardship and preparations for conservation proposals covering international waters.