DiCaprio and Bezos launch $200 million fund to save 100 endangered species

Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos have joined forces to launch a significant conservation effort aimed at protecting the planet's most vulnerable wildlife. Their foundations, "Re:wild" and the Earth Fund, have established a $200 million initiative named "Phoenix Species" with the ambitious goal of saving 100 critically endangered animal species.

This project is described as the largest fund exclusively dedicated to the recovery of severely threatened animal populations. It represents a collaborative approach, bringing together foundations, local governments, environmental organizations, and indigenous communities to devise strategies for halting and reversing species decline.

The "Phoenix Species" project will focus on a diverse range of animals facing extinction across the globe. The initiative aims to protect rare species such as the golden-crowned sifaka from Madagascar, the Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander from North America, the Visayan warty pig, the Cozumel pygmy rat from Mexico, the pink-bellied side-necked turtle, the Malayan pangolin, the Tanzanian flat-shelled tortoise, the harlequin frog, and the Attenborough's long-beaked echidna.

Beyond direct protection, the project's objectives include offering sustained support to smaller, effective conservation initiatives that may have limited short-term funding. This approach seeks to ensure the long-term survival and recovery of these threatened species.

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The project is launched in cooperation with foundations with local authorities, environmental organizations and indigenous peoples on how best to stop and reverse the decline of their most endangered species.