Phoenix Species Project launches global effort to bring 100 of the world’s most threatened species back from the brink

Nature is full of comeback stories when people invest in protecting and restoring the planet. Species once feared lost have returned. Populations reduced to just a handful of individuals have rebounded. Entire ecosystems have recovered. 

The Phoenix Species Project builds on that possibility. Together, the Bezos Earth Fund and Re:wild, co-founded by Leonardo DiCaprio and Dr. Wes Sechrest, are launching the project with support from Leonardo DiCaprio, Age of Union and the Todd Graves Family Foundation. The effort begins with a $200 million commitment, making it the largest single philanthropic initiative dedicated exclusively to the recovery of critically endangered species across taxonomic groups, a diversity of habitats, and countries. It will provide unprecedented support to help recover 100 species facing imminent extinction, collaborating with Indigenous Peoples, local communities, scientists and conservationists working to secure the future of biodiversity and the planet.

The initiative will move this work beyond small, short-term grants by providing the sustained, ambitious investment that endangered and critically endangered species need to rebound. It will inject much needed support to locally led efforts to accelerate recovery for wildlife species that are down to tiny populations and facing threats that need intensive, hands-on recovery efforts. 

The project’s 100 species span mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, invertebrates, and plants from 30 countries that live across a range of habitats, from oceans to freshwater lakes, tropical rainforests to volcanic plains.

“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,” said Tiana Andriamanana, executive director of Association Fanamby, which is receiving a Phoenix Species Project grant. “This funding, this global platform and technical support change what is possible. We are no longer only holding the line against extinction; we can begin to bring the gold of Madagascar's northern forests back. In doing so, we protect the landscapes that give Malagasy people drinking water, we open real ecotourism opportunities for local communities, and we prove that conservation succeeds only when everyone has a role in it. People and wildlife always thrived together; we only became disconnected, and now it is a homecoming.”

More than 100 local and international partners around the world—including Indigenous Peoples, local communities, conservationists, and governments—will lead the work, tailoring recovery efforts to each species and place. Recovery strategies could include conservation breeding programs, head starting programs, translocations, disease management, non-native species control and restoring habitats. The project is in collaboration with the IUCN Species Survival Commission as global knowledge partner to ensure the highest scientific rigor across the portfolio. 

“For decades, scientists, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and conservation leaders have been on the front lines of protecting nature, and what has been made clear through research, is that species on the brink of extinction are often the ones that anchor some of the world’s most important ecosystems,” said Leonardo DiCaprio, founder of Re:wild. “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. By creating the largest philanthropic initiative in history dedicated to the recovery of critically endangered species across continents, made possible by a transformative gift from the Bezos Earth Fund, we have an opportunity to make a lasting impact where it’s needed most. The goal is for the Phoenix Species Project to become a global movement that inspires others to invest in nature and help protect our planet.”

Of the $200 million committed at launch, $100 million comes from the Bezos Earth Fund, and $100 million from Re:wild, with support from Leonardo DiCaprio, Age of Union, and the Todd Graves Family Foundation. The funding is structured to support recovery work over multiple years, giving species time to rebound. The project will track population recovery and threat reduction and report updates on its website and social media platforms.

“Kids fall in love with animals before anyone tells them those animals are disappearing. Ask any seven-year-old about their favorite creature. It’s something wild. Something most adults have never heard of. What do we tell them when the night parrot or the golden-crowned sifaka isn’t there anymore to fall in love with? This project is our answer,” said Lauren Sánchez Bezos, vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund. “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.” 

The full Phoenix 100 can be found on the project’s new website, but in addition to the golden-crowned sifaka, a few highlights include the: 

• Ancient shark-like bowmouth guitarfish, a ray found in shallow ocean waters from South Africa to Japan and Australia, whose fins are among the most prized in the fin trade. [Implementing partner: ReShark]
• Honey-scented, daisy-like fuzzy belly button, a tiny desert succulent that is illegally harvested for the ornamental plant trade in western South Africa. [Implementing partner: South African National Biodiversity Institute] 
• Tree-dwelling Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander that lives only in a small canyon in North Carolina in the United States, which is within the world’s most diverse salamander hotspot, the Appalachian Mountains. [Implementing partner: Amphibian & Reptile Conservancy]
• Small, extinct-in-the-wild freshwater Charco Azul pupfish, whose common appearance belies its dramatic history when the freshwater spring it lived in dried up in Mexico after a drought and years of water extraction for agriculture. [Implementing partner: Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos]
• Lost-and-found night parrot from Australia’s remote deserts and dry grasslands, which remains elusive because of its nocturnal, ground-dwelling habits. [Implementing partner: Bush Heritage Australia]

The project supports countries that are trying to deliver Target 4 of the CBD Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls for governments around the world to halt extinctions and improve the conservation status of endangered species. The Phoenix Species Project is partnering with the Reverse the Red Action Partnership on this to support governments to identify priority species and activate recovery actions for every species in need.

Of the nearly 176,000 species assessed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, more than 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 in many cases reverse, biodiversity loss. In addition, drawing on examples from across taxa, the authors of a 2021 peer-reviewed essay in Conservation Biology argued that even species reduced to tiny populations can recover with sufficient conservation funding, committed local partners, and action.

The Phoenix Species Project invites other philanthropic donors to join the effort to help meet the scale and urgency of the biodiversity loss crisis.