Back in 2023, ‘One Battle After Another’ star Leonardo DiCaprio paired up with American businessman Jeff Bezos, who is also known as the second-richest person on Earth. The two unlikely forces came together to fight for the Amazon rainforest, which has been depleting in size and quality for a variety of reasons.
When Leonardo DiCaprio and Jeff Bezos worked together on raising funds for the Amazon rainforest
In July 2023, as per reports shared online by the Associated Press, DiCaprio and Bezos’ nonprofit organizations collaborated to launch a dedicated fund for the Amazon rainforest, along with Vice President Lauren Sánchez. They committed over USD 200 million through the Protect Our Planet (POP) Challenge for the cause.The pledge focused on supporting Brazil’s environmental goals, which included achieving zero deforestation in the Amazon and safeguarding protected areas and Indigenous areas as well. The funds were meant to be invested in things like municipal and national programs that may help achieve zero illegal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Not only that, but the funding was also established to reinforce and help with physical monitoring, infrastructure, and ecological management of existing national parks.At the time, DiCaprio shared a statement about the collaboration between him and Bezos, saying, “We are inspired by Brazil’s ambitious goals for protecting the Amazon, one of the most important places for wildlife on the planet, and are thrilled to be able to support these efforts through the Protecting Our Planet Challenge.”One of the representatives of Bezos’ nonprofit, Cristián Samper, also explained at the time that “Amazon is critical for the future of global biodiversity and climate, and we welcome the commitment from President Lula and the Government of Brazil to protect it. We are pleased to support the designation and management of protected areas and Indigenous territories as a key part of the strategy to reduce deforestation, along with new economic models of development based on the conservation and sustainable use of the forest.”
Leonardo DiCaprio and Jeff Bezos extended the project and launched the Phoenix Species Project
They invested additional money into the project to start a brand new branch that mainly focused on preventing the extinction of 100 of the world’s most critically endangered species. Some of the priority species that were named in the program included the golden-crowned sifaka (Madagascar lemur), Malayan pangolins, and the pink land iguana in the Galápagos.The main objective of the program was to move away from short-term goals and instead invest their funding into sustained multi-year habitat protection and species breeding/restoration programs to ensure that these species do not cease to exist.
