Bezos, DiCaprio Launch $200M Project for Threatened Species

Foundations co-founded by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jeff Bezos have launched the Phoenix Species Project, a $200 million initiative dedicated to reviving 100 of Earth's most threatened species. Announced on Tuesday, this project represents the largest single fund in history exclusively focused on recovering critically endangered species. DiCaprio's organization, Re:wild, and the Bezos Earth Fund are spearheading this effort. The initiative aims to address the decline of species facing existential threats, largely driven by climate change and habitat loss. Leonardo DiCaprio has been developing the concept for a large-scale, coordinated effort to aid species whose futures are precarious for years. The genesis of the Phoenix Species Project can be traced back to a 2021 meeting between DiCaprio, Re:wild co-founder Wes Sechrest (who also serves as CEO), Jeff Bezos, and his wife Lauren Sánchez Bezos. Sánchez Bezos is the vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, while Jeff Bezos serves as its chair. This meeting initiated a series of discussions involving local governments, environmental organizations, and Indigenous communities to strategize the most effective methods for reversing the endangerment of vulnerable species. These collaborative conversations ultimately led to the establishment of the Phoenix Species Project. The project will support a diverse range of animals, including the golden-crowned sifaka, a lemur native to Madagascar. It will also focus on the Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander, a lungless tree-dweller found exclusively in a small canyon in North Carolina. The Visayan warty pig, endemic to the Philippines, and Mexico's Cozumel harvest mouse, which inhabits only an island off the Yucatán Peninsula, are also among the targeted species. Other animals slated for recovery efforts include the pink land iguana, found solely on Wolf Volcano in the Galápagos Islands; the Malayan pangolin, also known as the Sunda pangolin, native to Southeast Asia; and Tanzania's pancake tortoise, distinguished by its flat, flexible shell. The starry night harlequin toad, named for its distinctive black-and-white markings resembling an evening sky, is found only in the mountains of Colombia. Additionally, Attenborough's long-beaked echidna, a monotreme mammal that lays eggs and is from New Guinea, is included in the project's scope. The initiative's broad scope underscores the urgency of biodiversity conservation and the significant financial commitment required to make a tangible impact on species recovery.