Shared spaces: how pollinators connect us all

Amazon is supporting pollinators through projects that show how businesses, communities, and nature can thrive. 

A project announced last month by Whole Foods Market and Mad Agriculture reimagines how our food system could work in harmony with some of nature's most essential workers: pollinators. These insects, birds, and other animals enable the reproduction of flowering plants that feed both wildlife and humans, supporting food security and ecosystem health.

Initiatives like this one understand that pollinators need widespread support to survive—and thrive. From Whole Foods Market reshaping supply chains to Amazon employees improving the areas around our operations and supporting community projects, we’re trying to foster a more resilient future, one small wing at a time.
 

Wilding American farmland

Whole Foods Market and Mad Agriculture’s vision is bold yet practical: create a connected grid of climate-resilient habitats that restore biodiversity while strengthening our food system's resilience. Starting in the Lowery Creek Watershed in Wisconsin, this initiative aims to reconstruct native ecosystems across American farmland to support pollinators and wildlife, linking farms, watersheds, and wild areas through a 1,000-acre “Biodiversity Highway.”

The Biodiversity Highway will reduce fragmentation and help buffer communities from the effects of climate change like flooding and erosion. It’s also a practical model for reconstructing ecosystems with the potential to improve how the land functions—filtering water, storing carbon, managing pests, reducing erosion, and keeping farmland productive over time.

"This initiative is about rethinking how we care for the land and support the people who grow our food," Whole Foods Market CEO Jason Buechel said. Ranked by Friends of the Earth as the top U.S. retailer for pollinator protection, Whole Foods Market has redoubled its efforts through native prairie restoration and pollinator-friendly sourcing policies. Its work demonstrates how businesses can play a crucial role in protecting these vital creatures that support over 1,200 crops and 180,000 plant species—which are in about one out of every three bites of food we eat.

Working with nature at Amazon sites

At an Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center campus in Virginia, native grasses and nectar-rich species replaced acres of invasive plants as part of a pilot project designed to attract bees and butterflies, and restore soil quality, improve native habitat, and reduce the emissions and maintenance costs of mowing. After a year, the site boasted an established pollinator habitat.

In Rheinberg, Germany, a fulfillment center team has revived a 2,000-square-meter wildflower meadow. By adding a Benjes hedge—a natural barrier that shelters insects, birds, and small mammals—unused space became a thriving wildlife habitat.

"We are a very mechanical, data-driven company," said Caroline Hassaneyn-Huelskamp, an executive assistant and former sustainability lead, “and so having this natural beauty outside our facility is inspiring.”

In South Yorkshire, England, at one of Amazon's fulfillment centers in Doncaster, a solar panel project inspired something bigger.

"When we installed 6.8 megawatts of solar power on our roof in October 2023, associates in the building started thinking differently," said Keith Flanagan, environment and sustainability pillar lead at the fulfillment center. "They started asking: If Amazon can make this investment in sustainability, what more can we do?"

The team has now planted over 6,000 trees and shrubs in the greater area, including a hedgerow alongside the facility. 

Connecting with communities

When a local school in Doncaster wanted to improve its grounds, more than 40 Amazonians volunteered to transform an unsafe, overgrown area into a robust habitat with a pond and outdoor classroom. They planted over 5,000 wildflower seeds to draw pollinators and created gardens for neurodivergent children. With a new area for students to grow their own vegetables, the school's environmental club is planning an after-school gardening club.

Working with the Doncaster council, the team is expanding pollinator-friendly spaces across the region. With thousands more trees and shrubs planned for this autumn, Amazon associates are supporting wildlife and community well-being. 

In Berlin, Amazon’s Right Now Climate Fund is helping social cooperative KARUNA e.G create a network of 20 "tiny forests," each the size of a tennis court yet brimming with over 650 native plants from 25 different species.

"The first trees are already nearly two meters tall," project lead Isabell Steiner said. "When you see all the greenery, the pollinators arriving, and flowers growing, you can see how healthy the soil is becoming."

The forests are strategically placed across the city, serving their unique communities. In the central district of Lichtenberg, KARUNA installed layers of pollinator-friendly bushes and trees well-suited for busy streets. At an elementary school in Bernau, north of Berlin, students helped build an insect shelter, and an outdoor classroom is taking shape at the forest’s center, where students can learn among the trees.

At KARUNA's first citizen science day, volunteers documented soil health and pollinator activity, including several important species of wild bees, joining a network of over 350 tiny forests through Earthwatch Europe.

"We're already seeing the beginnings of a food chain,” Steiner said, “from the smallest insects to ladybirds that feed on them."

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