Jeff Bezos and Leonardo DiCaprio funded foundations have launched an initiative committing $200 million to revive 100 of Earth’s most threatened species, including endangered lemurs, salamanders, pangolins, pigs and echidnas. DiCaprio’s Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund are leading the Phoenix Species Project, the groups announced. They call it the largest single fund in history dedicated exclusively to recovering critically endangered species. DiCaprio has for years been developing the idea of a major concerted effort to help species whose habitats and future existence are threatened by climate change.
In 2021, he and Re:wild co-founder Wes Sechrest, a biologist who serves as the organization’s CEO, met with the Amazon-founding mega billionaire Bezos and his wife, former TV news reporter and host Lauren Sánchez Bezos. He serves as chair and she as vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund. The meeting led to a series of conversations with local governments, environmental groups and Indigenous people on how best to reverse the decline of their most vulnerable species. Those conversations eventually led to the Phoenix Species Project.
