Jeff Bezos and Leonardo DiCaprio have put $200 million behind the 100 species closest to disappearing from the planet. The Phoenix Species Project, launched by the Bezos Earth Fund and Re:wild, stands as the largest single philanthropic initiative dedicated exclusively to the recovery of critically endangered species, reaching across taxonomic groups, habitats and countries in a way nothing before it has attempted.
The money splits evenly. Half comes from the Bezos Earth Fund, run by chief executive Tom Taylor under chairman Jeff Bezos and vice chair Lauren Sánchez Bezos, who fronted the launch. The other half comes from Re:wild, the organisation DiCaprio co-founded with Dr Wes Sechrest, with further support from Age of Union and the Todd Graves Family Foundation. All of it is directed at species that would otherwise vanish within a generation.
Conservation has never suffered from a shortage of ambition. What it has lacked is money that lasts long enough for the work to finish, and this fund has been built to fix precisely that. The 100 species selected span mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, invertebrates and plants across 30 countries, from open ocean and freshwater lakes to tropical rainforest and volcanic plain, with more than 100 local and international partners leading the work on the ground.
The long money
Most conservation funding arrives in small parcels and disappears before results can be measured. Field teams spend as much energy renewing grants as they do on recovery itself, and species reduced to a few dozen individuals cannot wait for the next application round. The Phoenix Species Project reverses that pattern by committing sustained, multi-year investment to each species on its list.
Support is structured over five years per species, giving populations the time required to rebuild and giving practitioners the certainty to plan properly. Recovery methods will differ by case, taking in conservation breeding, head-starting programmes, translocations, disease management, control of non-native species and habitat restoration. Progress on population recovery and threat reduction will be tracked and reported publicly through the project’s website and social channels.
“This fund is focused squarely on species recovery, not merely stopping decline, which is important but ultimately does not go far enough to restore a species and ensure its ecological function. Recovering species takes time, so the fund is designed to provide sustained, five-years of support for each species, freeing conservationists from disruptive short-term funding cycles and equipping them to do what’s actually required to bring species back.”
Barney Long Senior Director of Conservation Strategies Re:wild
The list
The species selected are not the familiar faces of wildlife fundraising. Among them is the golden-crowned sifaka of northern Madagascar, protected for years by Association Fanamby on a budget that never matched the task. The Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander, described by science only in 2019, lives in a single canyon in North Carolina within the Appalachian Mountains, the most diverse salamander hotspot on the planet.
Others sit further from public attention still. The bowmouth guitarfish, a shark-like ray found in shallow waters from South Africa to Japan and Australia, carries fins among the most prized in the fin trade. The fuzzy belly button, a honey-scented desert succulent from western South Africa, is illegally harvested for the ornamental plant trade. The Charco Azul pupfish became extinct in the wild after its Mexican spring dried up following drought and years of water extraction for agriculture, while Australia’s night parrot went missing for close to 150 years before its rediscovery, with structured research beginning from almost nothing in 2013.
“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.”
Tiana Andriamanana Executive Director Association Fanamby
Ground truth
Each recovery plan will be shaped by the people who live alongside the species in question. Association Fanamby’s work in Madagascar illustrates the wider logic, since protecting the northern forests also safeguards the water supply Malagasy communities depend on and opens genuine ecotourism income locally. Implementing partners elsewhere include ReShark, the South African National Biodiversity Institute, the Amphibian & Reptile Conservancy, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos and Bush Heritage Australia.
The case for backing small, obscure species is ecological before it is sentimental. Research indicates that animals and plants on the brink often anchor the ecosystems around them, so their recovery pulls forests, wetlands, grasslands and oceans back with them. That connection sits at the centre of how the project has been designed.
“When we protect those species, we also protect the forests, wetlands, grasslands, and oceans they depend on. The Phoenix Species Project has the potential to drastically shift how we approach conservation and combat the climate crisis at a global scale.”
Leonardo DiCaprio Founder Re:wild
The evidence
The IUCN Species Survival Commission joins as global knowledge partner, applying scientific rigour across the full portfolio. Chaired by Vivek Menon, the commission counts more than 11,000 members across 186 territories and holds a Guinness World Record as the largest volunteer conservation-science network anywhere.
The scale of the problem is documented. Of the nearly 176,000 species assessed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, over 31,000 are listed as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Extinct in the Wild. A 2024 study led by Re:wild and partners found that conservation action can halt and frequently reverse biodiversity loss, while a 2021 peer-reviewed essay in Conservation Biology concluded that even species down to tiny populations recover given sufficient funding, committed local partners and action.
Governments have a stake in the outcome. The project supports countries working towards Target 4 of the CBD Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls on governments to halt extinctions and improve the conservation status of endangered species. Delivery on that front runs through a partnership with the Reverse the Red Action Partnership, helping states identify priority species and activate recovery actions.
An open door for other donors
The founding partners have framed the $200 million as a starting position and have invited other philanthropic donors to join. Todd Graves, whose family foundation is among the backers, credits DiCaprio’s work at Re:wild as his reason for taking part, and describes the best investments as the ones that make a difference for generations to come.
Ambition of this kind depends on staying power more than novelty. The tools, the science and the local expertise already exist, and the argument made at launch is simply that the resources must now match them.
“One hundred species, thirty countries, and a real commitment to bringing them back. Not managing their decline. Recovering them. That’s the whole difference. We know how to do this. We just have to stay committed long enough to see it through.”
Lauren Sánchez Bezos Vice Chair Bezos Earth Fund