DiCaprio and Bezos Launch $200M Initiative to Save Endangered Species
Foundations funded and co-founded by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jeff Bezos have launched a $200 million initiative to revive 100 of Earth’s most threatened species, including endangered lemurs, salamanders, pangolins, pigs, and echidnas. The Phoenix Species Project, announced Tuesday, is led by DiCaprio’s Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund, and is described by organizers as the largest single philanthropic fund in history dedicated exclusively to recovering critically endangered species.
A New Model for Conservation Funding
The project’s 100 species span mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, invertebrates, and plants from 30 countries across five continents, according to the Bezos Earth Fund. Of the $200 million committed at launch, $100 million comes from the Bezos Earth Fund and $100 million from Re:wild, with additional support from DiCaprio, Age of Union, and the Todd Graves Family Foundation.
What distinguishes this initiative from previous conservation efforts is its funding structure. Rather than providing small, short-term grants, the project is designed to deliver sustained, five-year support for each species, freeing conservationists from the disruptive funding cycles that have long hampered recovery work.
“This fund is focused squarely on species recovery, not merely stopping decline, which is important but ultimately does not go far enough to restore a species and ensure its ecological function,” said Barney Long, senior director of conservation strategies at Re:wild, in a statement. “Recovering species takes time, so the fund is designed to provide sustained, five-years of support for each species.”
From Hollywood to the Amazon: How the Project Came Together
DiCaprio has spent years developing the idea of a major concerted effort to help species threatened by climate change and habitat loss. In 2021, he and Re:wild co-founder Wes Sechrest, a biologist who serves as the organization’s CEO, met with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, who serve as chair and vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, as AP News reported.
The meeting led to a series of conversations with local governments, environmental groups, and Indigenous peoples on how best to reverse the decline of the world’s most vulnerable species. Those conversations eventually crystallized into the Phoenix Species Project.
“For decades, scientists, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and conservation leaders have been on the front lines of protecting nature, and what has been made clear through research, is that species on the brink of extinction are often the ones that anchor some of the world’s most important ecosystems,” DiCaprio said in a statement. “When we protect those species, we also protect the forests, wetlands, grasslands, and oceans they depend on.”
Lauren Sánchez Bezos framed the project’s ambition in more personal terms. “Kids fall in love with animals before anyone tells them those animals are disappearing,” she said. “Ask any seven-year-old about their favorite creature. It’s something wild. Something most adults have never heard of. What do we tell them when the night parrot or the golden-crowned sifaka isn’t there anymore to fall in love with? This project is our answer. One hundred species, thirty countries, and a real commitment to bringing them back. Not managing their decline. Recovering them.”
The Phoenix 100: Species on the Brink
The full list of 100 species, detailed in the Phoenix Species Project’s launch announcement, includes some of the most extraordinary and endangered life forms on the planet. Among the highlights are the golden-crowned sifaka, a lemur from Madagascar; the Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander, a lungless tree-dweller that lives only in a small canyon in North Carolina; the Visayan warty pig, endemic to islands in the Philippines; and Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, an egg-laying mammal from New Guinea named in honor of the naturalist David Attenborough.
The list also includes the pink land iguana, found only on Wolf Volcano in the Galápagos Islands; the Malayan (Sunda) pangolin, native to Southeast Asia; Tanzania’s pancake tortoise, named for its flat, flexible shell; and the starry night harlequin toad, found only in the mountains of Colombia. The Charco Azul pupfish, a small freshwater fish declared extinct in the wild after its spring habitat dried up in Mexico, is also among the targeted species.
More than 100 local and international partners—including Indigenous Peoples, local communities, conservationists, and governments—will lead the recovery work, tailoring efforts to each species and place. Recovery strategies could include conservation breeding programs, head starting programs, translocations, disease management, non-native species control, and habitat restoration. The project is in collaboration with the IUCN Species Survival Commission as global knowledge partner.
Local Impact, Global Significance
For conservationists on the ground, the funding represents a transformative shift in what is possible. Tiana Andriamanana, executive director of Association Fanamby, which is receiving a Phoenix Species Project grant for its work protecting the golden-crowned sifaka in Madagascar, described the impact in a statement.
“We’ve protected the golden-crowned sifaka for years on a budget that would never match what this species deserves, but letting it go extinct was never an option,” Andriamanana said. “This funding, this global platform and technical support change what is possible. We are no longer only holding the line against extinction; we can begin to bring the gold of Madagascar’s northern forests back.”
JJ Apodaca, executive director of the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy, which is working to save the Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander, posed a pointed question about the value of conservation. “If the Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander goes extinct, our economies won’t crash, nor will our daily lives be impacted,” he said. “But are we willing to allow millions of years of evolutionary divergence and such an incredibly unique species disappear because of our actions?”
A Drop in a Vast Ocean of Need
The $200 million commitment arrives against a backdrop of sobering statistics. Of nearly 176,000 species assessed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, more than 31,000 are listed as Critically Endangered, Endangered, or Extinct in the Wild. The 2024 WWF “Living Planet” report found that average wildlife abundance declined by 73% from 1970 to 2020.
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in 2022, puts the amount of financing necessary to address biodiversity loss at around $700 billion annually. Yet as Mongabay reported in February, the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund has only received $386 million in pledges since its launch—a small fraction of what is needed. The 30×30 global target had attracted $1.1 billion in funding by 2024, short of the $6 billion needed annually by 2030.
The Phoenix Species Project’s $200 million commitment, while substantial, represents a small fraction of the estimated annual need. But its significance lies not just in the dollar amount, but in the model it demonstrates: sustained, multi-year funding focused on measurable recovery, backed by scientific rigor and local leadership.
What to Watch For
The project will track population recovery and threat reduction, reporting updates on its website and social media platforms. The initiative also supports countries working to deliver Target 4 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls for governments to halt extinctions and improve the conservation status of endangered species.
The Phoenix Species Project invites other philanthropic donors to join the effort. As Wes Sechrest, founder and CEO of Re:wild, put it: “We all depend on the fabric of life on our planet, for everything from our food, fuel, and medicines, to clean water and air. Although we have pushed many species and ecosystems to the brink, we know that with the right people and resources, we can recover them.”
Whether the project succeeds in demonstrating that extinction can be reversed at scale will depend on the measurable recovery of the Phoenix 100 over the coming years. For now, the initiative represents one of the most ambitious bets ever placed on the idea that with enough resources, commitment, and collaboration, the world’s most endangered species can rise again.