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Leonardo DiCaprio has recently announced that his environmental charity named Earth Alliance, will be donating $5 million to preserve the Amazon rainforest.
The organization is working with local partners and indigenous communities to help protect the Amazon ecosystem.
Reuters
The money will be donated directly to five local organizations, including the Instituto Associacao Floresta Protegida (Kayapo), the Coordination of the Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), the Instituto Kabu (Kayapo), the Instituto Raoni (Kayapo) and the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA).
The fund’s website notes that the initiative is in response to the massive fires that have swept across the Amazon in recent weeks. As Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) reports, over 72,000 fires have broken out so far in 2019, which is a drastic increase from the number of 40,000 fires in 2018.
Most experts agree that the fires are the result of a massive surge in cattle operations and agribusiness in that area. The wildfires are intentionally set to clear space for development, although the deforestation has made the rest of the forest more vulnerable to wildfires.
Leonardo DiCaprio (@leonardodicaprio) on
The “Earth Alliance” charity was recently formed by DiCaprio, Laurene Powell Jobs, and Brian Sheth, in July 2019. The organization was created to preserve nature, supporting renewable energy, and protecting indigenous rights.
In an Instagram post announcing the new initiative, the actor promised that 100 percent of the donations would be going to the selected charities.
The actor has been involved in environmental activism for numerous years. When he was only 24-years-old, he established the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998, a non-profit organization devoted to promoting environmental awareness. That was shortly after earning millions with the Titanic and other blockbuster films.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and DiCaprio at the Our Ocean Conference at the U.S. Department of State in September 2016 Photo: Wikipedia
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