Leonardo DiCaprio and Jeff Bezos launch $200 million Phoenix Species Project to recover 100 species on brink of extinction

The announcement

On August 4, 2026, Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund launched the Phoenix Species Project, a $200 million initiative to recover 100 critically endangered species. The fund is described as the largest single philanthropic effort dedicated exclusively to species recovery. It will support mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, invertebrates and plants across 30 countries, in habitats ranging from oceans to volcanic plains. The project will work in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples, local communities, scientists and conservationists.

The species at risk

The project targets a diverse set of species. Among them are the golden-crowned sifaka lemur in Madagascar, the Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander in North Carolina, the Attenborough's long-beaked echidna in New Guinea, the Visayan warty pig in the Philippines, the pink land iguana of the Galápagos, the Cozumel harvest mouse in Mexico, the Malayan pangolin, the pancake tortoise in Tanzania, and the starry night harlequin toad in Colombia. Other species include the guitarfish, button cactus, Charco Azul pupfish and night parrot. The list reflects the breadth of taxonomic groups and geographies the initiative aims to cover.

The partnership and funding

The Bezos Earth Fund, chaired by Jeff Bezos with vice chair Lauren Sánchez Bezos, is committing $100 million. Re:wild, co-founded by DiCaprio and led by CEO Wes Sechrest, will match that with support from DiCaprio, Age of Union and the Todd Graves Family Foundation. The idea originated years ago, and in 2021 DiCaprio and Sechrest met with Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos. Subsequent conversations with local governments, environmental groups and Indigenous communities shaped the project.

A sustained approach

Unlike short-term grants, the Phoenix Species Project aims to provide long-term investment. More than 100 local and international partners will tailor recovery efforts to each species and place. The initiative supports Target 4 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls for halting extinctions and improving conservation status. Partners include the Reverse the Red Action Partnership and the IUCN Species Survival Commission, the world's largest volunteer conservation science network.

Voices from the field

DiCaprio said on Instagram: "I couldn't be more proud to announce this. By saving these species, we protect everything around them: forests, rivers, and the climate itself." Tiana Andriamanana, executive director of Association Fanamby, which works on the golden-crowned sifaka, said: "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. This funding, this global platform and technical support change what is possible."