Overview
- This week Re:wild and the Bezos Earth Fund launched the Phoenix Species Project with a $200 million commitment split roughly $100 million from Bezos’s fund and $100 million from Re:wild and partner foundations.
- The initiative publishes a Phoenix 100 list and targets 100 critically endangered plants and animals across about 30 countries with species examples including the bowmouth guitarfish, Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander, and Charco Azul pupfish.
- Organizers emphasize multi-year grants intended to move conservation away from short-term funding by supporting locally led recovery actions developed with Indigenous Peoples, community groups and IUCN-linked scientists.
- Conservation experts say an average of roughly $2 million per species can fund focused recovery work but remains small compared with the broader financing gap needed to stop global biodiversity loss.
- The launch has prompted sharp public criticism accusing the principals of greenwashing and questioning whether the pledge addresses donors’ wider environmental impacts, while specific on-the-ground grants and partner agreements remain at an early implementation stage.