The Protecting Our Planet Challenge seeks to protect the Amazon’s indigenous population and wildlife.
Jeff Bezos and Leonardo DiCaprio are working together to save the Amazon.
The Protecting Our Planet (POP) Challenge will provide $200 million over the next four years to the Brazilian government’s efforts to protect the wildlife and the Indigenous people of the Amazon thanks to the assistance of the Revenant star, 48, and the Amazon founder, 59.
DiCaprio joined the challenge through Re:wild, the rewilding-focused organization he co-founded in 2021. “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,” he said in a press release.
Through the Bezos Earth Fund, a project he and his fiancée Lauren Sánchez started to aid in the battle against climate change, Bezos is involved.
The future of the world’s biodiversity and climate depend on the Amazon, thus the Bezos Earth Fund’s managing director and head of nature solutions, Cristián Samper, welcomed President Lula’s and Brazil’s government’s pledge to safeguard it.
Samper stated, “We are happy to support new economic models of development based on the conservation and sustainable use of the forest, as well as the designation and administration of protected areas and Indigenous territories as a critical part of the effort to prevent deforestation.
The Protecting Our Planet Challenge aims to stop deforestation in the Amazon, permanently protect over 145 million acres of public lands that are not yet recognized, and improve the administration of already protected areas as well as the rights of the Indigenous Brazilian Amazonian guardians.
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More than 400 Indigenous communities depend on the Amazonian region, which includes parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. It is also home to millions of species. According to the release, scientists are concerned about disastrous effects if the figure rises to 20–25 percent because 17–% of the Amazonian forest has already disappeared.
This initiative “will contribute to Brazil’s ambitious and critical goals of achieving zero deforestation in the Amazon and accelerating the country’s transition to a sustainable and green economy,” according to the press release.
Prior to now, DiCaprio has offered his support to international environmental efforts.
According to a news statement from Re:wild, the Oscar winner and environmentalist, together with Forest Whitaker and Djimon Hounsou, joined Prince Harry, 38, and prominent conservationists in October 2021 in demanding an immediate halt to oil and gas extraction in Africa’s Okavango River Basin.
At that time, DiCaprio posted an Instagram video encouraging followers to sign the open letter requesting for a halt to the nearby drilling.
The caption read, “Re:wild stands with the Okavango River Basin residents whose survival depends on the watershed’s health. “ReconAfrica is prepared to permanently contaminate its fields and destroy a stunning landscape that is beneficial to all species on Earth. Sign the open letter with us by clicking the link in the bio. We can #SaveTheOkavango by working together. For all wild people.
