Leonardo DiCaprio has been a longtime environmental activist, he famously addressed the UN at the Paris Agreement signing ceremony in 2016.
Now the Oscar-winning actor has donated $5 million dollars towards efforts to preserve the Amazon rainforest and combat wildfires. Dicaprio made the considerable pledge via the Earth Alliance, which is his own climate change-focused organization that was initiated in July.
Earth Alliance’s has just launched the Amazon Forest Fund and the actor claims the fund’s objective is to:
“help local partners and the indigenous communities on the front lines protecting the Amazon.”
CoS reports that the fund will offer assistance to the Instituto Associacao Floresta Protegida (Kayapo) and Coordination of the Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB).
It’s reported that the fires are a result of mass deforestation by cattle farmers. It's estimated there have been 74,000 recorded fires this year, an 84% surge from 2018.
DiCaprio wrote on Instagram via Rainforest Alliance:
“Scientists and conservationists attribute the accelerating deforestation to President Jair Bolsonaro, who issued an open invitation to loggers and farmers to clear the land after taking office in January.”
This is not the first time DiCaprio has spearheaded initiatives. Back in 1998, he kick-started the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, a nonprofit organisation, its mission to spread environmental awareness.
And in 2016, he was heavily involved in Before the Flood, the climate change documentary scored by NIN's Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
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