$200m fund to protect 100 threatened species

August 18, 2026

A major new global conservation initiative has launched with $200 million in funding to help recover 100 of the world’s most threatened species and prevent them from disappearing forever.

The Phoenix Species Project, launched by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Re and the Bezos Earth Fund, will finance long-term conservation programs across 30 countries. The initiative focuses on endangered wildlife and plants whose populations have fallen to dangerously low levels.

Rather than simply slowing biodiversity decline, the program is designed to help threatened species rebuild viable populations while restoring the ecosystems they depend on.

$200 million committed to species recovery

The Phoenix Species Project begins with a $200 million commitment. Half of the funding—$100 million—comes from the Bezos Earth Fund, while another $100 million comes from Re, with additional support involving Leonardo DiCaprio, Age of Union and the Todd Graves Family Foundation.

Organizers describe the initiative as the largest single philanthropic effort dedicated exclusively to recovering critically endangered species across multiple taxonomic groups and regions.

The funding will support conservation work over several years, addressing one of the biggest challenges facing species recovery programs: the lack of reliable, long-term financing.

Many conservation organizations currently depend on relatively small or short-duration grants. The Phoenix Species Project intends to provide sustained financial and technical resources so conservation teams can implement recovery strategies over longer periods.

100 threatened species across 30 countries

The initiative will target 100 species living in 30 countries, covering an unusually broad range of biodiversity.

The portfolio includes mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates and plants. Their habitats stretch from tropical forests and freshwater ecosystems to deserts, oceans and volcanic landscapes.

Among the species highlighted by the project is the golden-crowned sifaka, a critically endangered lemur found in northern Madagascar. Protecting the species also helps conserve forests that provide important ecosystem services to surrounding communities.

Another target is the bowmouth guitarfish, a distinctive ray living in shallow waters across parts of the Indian and Pacific oceans. The species faces intense pressure from fishing and the international shark-fin trade.

The program will also support conservation of the Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander, which has an extremely restricted habitat in North Carolina's Appalachian Mountains.

Bringing extinct-in-the-wild species back

Some of the project's ambitions extend beyond protecting surviving wild populations.

The Charco Azul pupfish, for example, is considered extinct in the wild after the Mexican freshwater spring it inhabited dried up following drought and years of agricultural water extraction.

Conservationists plan to restore suitable aquatic habitat and ultimately return the species to nature.

Australia's mysterious night parrot is another species included in the initiative. Once feared extinct after disappearing from scientific records for nearly 150 years, the elusive nocturnal bird was rediscovered and has since become an important focus of Australian conservation efforts.

The project also includes the unusual fuzzy belly button, a small succulent native to western South Africa that faces pressure from illegal collection for the ornamental plant market.

Local communities will lead conservation efforts

More than 100 local and international partners are expected to participate in the Phoenix Species Project.

A central part of the strategy is to place Indigenous Peoples, local communities, scientists, conservation organizations and governments at the center of individual recovery programs.

Instead of applying the same solution everywhere, conservation strategies will be adapted to the specific threats affecting each species.

Actions could include captive breeding, raising vulnerable young animals before releasing them into nature, relocating species to safer habitats, controlling invasive species, managing wildlife diseases and restoring degraded ecosystems.

The project is also collaborating with the IUCN Species Survival Commission, which will serve as a global knowledge partner and provide scientific expertise across the conservation portfolio.

From preventing decline to rebuilding populations

One of the most important differences between the Phoenix Species Project and many traditional conservation programs is its emphasis on recovery rather than survival alone.

Preventing a species from declining further can be an important first step, but populations that remain extremely small may continue to face a high risk of extinction.

The new initiative aims to move beyond maintaining critically low population levels and instead help species recover sufficiently to regain their ecological roles.

Long-term funding will therefore be particularly important. Species recovery can require years of habitat restoration, breeding, monitoring and threat reduction before populations become stable.

The program plans to measure progress through indicators including population recovery and reductions in major threats.

Protecting species can restore entire ecosystems

Saving individual species can have consequences far beyond the animals or plants themselves.

Species interact with their environments through pollination, seed dispersal, predation, nutrient cycling and countless other ecological processes. When key species disappear, those relationships can weaken, potentially destabilizing entire ecosystems.

Protecting endangered wildlife can therefore contribute to conserving forests, wetlands, grasslands, freshwater environments and oceans.

Healthy ecosystems also provide benefits to people, including clean water, food resources, climate regulation and economic opportunities such as sustainable ecotourism.

Leonardo DiCaprio, a founder of Re, said the initiative is intended to demonstrate how investment in threatened species can simultaneously protect the ecosystems on which they—and people—depend.

Thousands of species remain at risk

The scale of the global biodiversity crisis remains enormous.

Nearly 176,000 species have been assessed for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, with more than 31,000 classified as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Extinct in the Wild.

Despite those numbers, conservation research increasingly shows that extinction is not inevitable.

Species with extremely small populations can recover when threats are addressed, habitats are protected and conservation teams receive sufficient resources over long periods.

The Phoenix Species Project hopes to demonstrate that approach across a diverse group of species and ecosystems.

It will also support efforts related to Target 4 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls for urgent action to halt human-driven extinctions, reduce extinction risks and improve the conservation status of threatened species.

By combining substantial long-term funding with locally led conservation and scientific expertise, the Phoenix Species Project could provide an important test of whether large-scale investment can turn some of the world's most endangered species into future conservation success stories.