Leonardo DiCaprio and Jeff Bezos Are Teaming to Save Endangered Species With $200M Initiative

On August 4, the Los Angeles Times reported that the foundations co-founded by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jeff Bezos have initiated a $200 million project to save 100 of Earth's most endangered species. The Phoenix Species Project, led by DiCaprio's Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund, claims to be the largest single fund ever dedicated to recovering critically endangered species.

DiCaprio has long advocated for concerted efforts to protect species facing threats from climate change. In 2021, he and Re:wild co-founder Wes Sechrest met with Bezos and his wife, former news reporter Lauren Sánchez Bezos, which sparked discussions with local governments, environmental groups, and Indigenous people on reversing the decline of vulnerable species.

The initiative aims to protect species such as the golden-crowned sifaka - a lemur from Madagascar, the Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander - a lungless tree-dweller found only in a small North Carolina canyon, the Visayan warty pig - endemic to Philippine islands, the Cozumel harvest mouse - native to Mexico's Cozumel island.