LOS ANGELES — Foundations backed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jeff Bezos have committed $200 million to an unprecedented effort to bring 100 of the world’s most threatened species back from the brink.
The initiative, called the Phoenix Species Project, was announced Tuesday by DiCaprio’s conservation organization Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund. The groups say it is the largest single fund ever created solely to recover critically endangered species.
The project targets animals facing extinction due to habitat loss, climate change, poaching and other human pressures. The first species on the list include the golden-crowned sifaka, a lemur from Madagascar; the Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander, a lungless tree-dweller found only in one canyon in North Carolina; the Visayan warty pig from the Philippines; and the Cozumel harvest mouse from Mexico. Pangolins and echidnas are also among the species the project aims to support
DiCaprio has spent years pushing for a large-scale, coordinated push to protect species whose survival is increasingly uncertain. As co-founder of Re:wild, he has focused on protecting intact ecosystems and working directly with local communities.
In 2021, DiCaprio and Re:wild CEO Wes Sechrest met with Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos. Bezos founded Amazon and now chairs the Bezos Earth Fund, with Sánchez Bezos serving as vice chair.
That meeting sparked a series of discussions with governments, conservation groups, and Indigenous leaders about which species were most at risk and what it would actually take to reverse their decline.
“Recovering a species takes more than money. It takes science, local leadership, and time,” Sechrest said in the announcement. “This fund is designed to do all three
The money will be distributed over the next decade to conservation programs working on the ground in some of the world’s most biodiverse and threatened regions.
- Anti-poaching and monitoring efforts using new technology
- Partnerships with Indigenous and local communities who manage much of the remaining habitat
- Scientific research to better understand threats like disease, climate shifts, and invasive species
The Bezos Earth Fund will provide the bulk of the financing. Re:wild will help coordinate implementation and partner selection, drawing on its network in more than 80 countries.
Conservationists say focusing on 100 species allows for measurable impact while also protecting entire ecosystems. Many of the animals chosen are “indicator species” — when they thrive, it usually means their habitat is healthy for hundreds of other plants and animals.
The golden-crowned sifaka, for example, lives only in the dry forests of northwest Madagascar, one of the most deforested places on Earth. The Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander exists in just a few square miles of Appalachian forest. The Visayan warty pig has lost more than 90% of its habitat in the Philippines.
By targeting species with very specific needs, the project hopes to create conservation models that can be replicated elsewhere.
Both DiCaprio and Bezos have been active in climate and conservation funding for years, but this is the first time their organizations have joined forces on a single program of this scale.
DiCaprio called the project “a chance to prove that extinction is not inevitable.” Bezos said the fund is about “giving species a real shot at recovery, not just slowing their decline.”
Conservation groups welcomed the commitment but noted that $200 million, while historic, is still a fraction of what’s needed globally. The hope is that the Phoenix Species Project will attract additional donors and governments to similar efforts.
Implementation begins this year, with the first grants expected to go to projects in Madagascar, the Philippines, the southeastern U.S., and Mexico.
For the organizations involved, the name matters. The phoenix doesn’t just survive — it comes back. That’s the goal for 100 species that many thought were already out of time
