One of the world’s largest financial organizations, HSBC, has earmarked nearly $50 million to create a five-year environmental program called Investing in Nature. The program will funnel money to three environmental nonprofits organizations — WWF, Botanic Gardens Conservation International, and Earthwatch — to support projects that enhance access to safe drinking water and help preserve endangered plants. WWF will use its share of the money to restore almost 5 million acres of river basin habitats along the Amazon, Yangtze, and Rio Grande. BGCI will use the money to help protect 20,000 endangered plants by creating gene banks in botanic gardens around the world. And Earthwatch will train conservation scientists in developing nations. HSBC Chair Sir John Bond explained the motivation behind Investing in Nature by saying, “Companies as well as individuals have a responsibility for the stewardship of this planet.”
