The effort has been kickstarted with an initial $100 million (\u00a375 million) provided by the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos\u2019\u00a0Bezos Earth Fund and $100 million from\u00a0Re:wild, the conservation organisation set up by actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Dr. Wes Sechrest, with support from Leonardo DiCaprio, Age of Union, and the Todd Graves Family Foundation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 100 species span mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, invertebrates and plants from 30 countries and habitats, from oceans to tropical rainforests, including: the golden-crowned sifaka in Madagascar; the shark-like\u00a0bowmouth guitarfish, a ray found in shallow ocean waters from South Africa to Japan and Australia; the tree-dwelling\u00a0Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander\u00a0in the United States; and\u00a0fuzzy belly button, a tiny desert succulent in South Africa.<\/p>\n
![\"Golden-crowned](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Golden-crowned-Sifaka-Propithecus-tattersalli.jpeg\")
A golden-crowned sifaka at the Fanamby-managed Camp Tattersalli in Madagascar. Credit: Fanamby<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to prevent every species from going extinct,\u201d says\u00a0Yula Kepetanakos, senior manager for the Phoenix Species Project at Re:wild. \u201cEach of these species are important because they play a vital role in their ecosystems, whether that\u2019s dispersing seeds, regulating prey, pollinating plants, providing clean water or helping with climate resilience. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis project will let organisations really focus on their work, instead of chasing funding. We know conservation works but we need to invest in it. We can bring species back from the brink and shift their trajectory from declining to recovery. We\u2019re hopeful that this is just the beginning and the project will expand beyond these 100 species.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Bowmouth](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Bowmouth-guitarfish-Rhina-ancylostomus-1.jpeg\")
Bowmouth guitarfish. Credit: Mark Erdmann\/Re:wild<\/p>\n
Protecting species is crucial to securing the future biodiversity and health of the planet. The listed species, like many others, face a range of threats, including the illegal wildlife trade, the illegal plant trade, habitat loss, pollution and climate change. <\/p>\n
\u201cSome populations of species are so small that a single weather event, natural disaster, disease event, chemical spill or new infrastructure project could wipe them out,\u201d says\u00a0Kepetanakos. \u201cWe need to act fast for those species.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistorically, the majority of conservation funding has gone to charismatic species,\u201d adds Kepetanakos, \u201cbut species like critically endangered snails, shrimp, plants, or warty pigs also need help, even if they\u2019re not as well recognised by the general public.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Hickory](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hickory-Nut-Gorge-green-salamander-Aneides-caryaensis-scaled.jpeg\")
Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander. Credit: Todd W. Pierson<\/p>\n
The Phoenix Species Project is being conducted in collaboration with the\u00a0IUCN Species Survival Commission<\/a>. Of the nearly 176,000 species assessed on the\u00a0IUCN Red List of Threatened Species<\/a>, more than 31,000 are listed as Critically Endangered, Endangered, or Extinct in the Wild.\u00a0<\/p>\n There has been some backlash, though, including suggestions of\u00a0‘greenwashing’ (reported by Canadian news broadcaster CBC News<\/a>) levelled at Amazon, with critics arguing that the project to recover endangered species does not address or compensate for the environmental impact of the company, which has been called out over\u00a0plastic pollution (ocean conservation organisation Oceana<\/a>),\u00a0deforestation\u00a0(Hagens Berman<\/a>) and excessive water use by its data centres (reported by CBC News<\/a>).<\/p>\n