Bezos, DiCaprio unite to fund largest-ever effort to protect endangered species

The global effort to protect endangered species and their habitats has received its largest-ever single philanthropic boost, with Hollywood actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio joining forces with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to fund a major conservation initiative.

DiCaprio’s Re:wild foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund have launched the Phoenix Species Project, as American media outlets report, which aims to support the recovery of 100 species facing imminent extinction.

The initial commitment of $200 million makes the Phoenix Species Project the largest single philanthropic initiative focused specifically on recovering critically endangered species.

The Bezos Earth Fund will provide $100 million, while Re:wild will match the contribution with funding from DiCaprio, Age of Union and the Todd Graves Family Foundation.

The initiative will cover mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, invertebrates and plants across 30 countries, with projects spanning ecosystems ranging from oceans to volcanic landscapes.

In order to best target the most vulnerable needs, the group will work alongside Indigenous Peoples, local communities, scientists and conservation organisations to develop and implement conservation programmes tailored to the needs of individual species and ecosystems.

The project is also intended to help countries meet Target 4 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls for governments to halt human-induced extinctions and improve the conservation status of threatened species.

The initiative comes amid growing concerns over the accelerating loss of biodiversity, with habitat destruction, climate change, pollution, invasive species and other pressures pushing thousands of species closer to extinction.

By focusing resources on species considered to be at particularly high risk, the Phoenix Species Project aims to support conservation efforts before populations reach irreversible levels of decline.

By Nazrin Sadigova