NEW DELHI: E-commerce major Amazon on Monday said it will make an initial investment of $3 million in nature-based projects in India. This is part of the company’s $15 million fund it has allocated for nature-based projects in Asia Pacific (APAC).

“The first $3 million from the fund’s APAC allocation will support nature-based projects in India. “For its first project, Amazon will be working with the Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS) to support communities and conservation efforts in the Western Ghats, which is home to more than 30 per cent of all of India’s wildlife species, including the world’s largest population of wild Asiatic elephants and tigers,” it said in a statement.

Amazon will provide $1 million to help CWS establish the “Wild Carbon” program, which will support 10,000 farmers in planting and maintaining one million fruit-bearing, timber and medicinal trees. “The APAC region is home to vast forests and rich coastal environments, but it is also highly vulnerable to climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation.