Within the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Environmental Conservation Program, we have launched three new interlinked initiatives to advance conservation by decoupling food production from ecosystem degradation. To accomplish this with sufficient speed and at a meaningful scale, we aim to help transform the markets for some key globally traded agricultural and seafood commodities — changing the purchasing practices of major buyers, setting and strengthening standards for production, and shifting practices on the ground.
Our Environmental Conservation Program balances long-term conservation with sustainable use. We protect critical ecosystems. We establish models for collaboration that can be replicated and expanded around the globe. And we seek to create lasting change in how land, freshwater and coastal marine ecosystems are managed.
The need to produce food without causing severe environmental degradation is essential to maintaining the productive capacity and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystems. The foundation’s markets initiatives aim to accomplish that.
Our Forests and Agricultural Markets Initiative is working to scale more efficient, sustainable deforestation-free production of beef and soy globally, by leveraging the influence of domestic and multinational companies with sufficient market reach to set sourcing standards that incentivize the adoption by producers of practices that prevent deforestation in the Amazon, Cerrado and Chaco regions.
Our Ocean and Seafood Markets Initiative seeks to protect marine and coastal ecosystems by improving aquaculture practices and the health and abundance of wild-capture fish stocks. Given current trends, most of the world’s food fisheries could collapse by 2050. We believe we can safeguard marine ecosystems by helping to reshape market demand and the decision-making systems that drive conservation solutions.
Our Conservation and Financial Markets Initiative is using the power of mainstream financial markets to help drive the food sector away from production practices that degrade natural ecosystems and to support businesses and the capital markets to make informed decisions based on effective disclosure. With the right market information and incentives in place, operating at the needed scale, we believe we can help meet present and future food demand while averting harmful impacts on natural ecosystems.
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation fosters path-breaking scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvements and preservation of the special character of the Bay Area. Visit www.moore.org or follow @MooreFound.
Message sent
Thank you for sharing.