Five times more people have walked in space than some species have survivors on Earth. Jeff Bezos and eight other organizations are committing more than $500 million to help bring these vanishing populations back and save them from extinction

The billionaires are bringing fresh hope for the world’s most threatened species. Nine private funders are bringing along a windfall of $500 million for the New Species Recovery Alliance, launched at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP17). The Bezos Earth Fund and eight others will work together over the next five years to prevent extinctions and recover the world’s most threatened species. Joining the Bezos Earth Fund are Leonardo DiCaprio’s Re:wild, the Colossal Foundation, the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Fondation Segré, the Franklinia Foundation, the Rainforest Trust, and WildLives Earth.

Golden-Lion-Tamarin — A golden lion tamarin cradles its baby, highlighting the importance of the $500 million Species Recovery Alliance’s mission to protect threatened wildlife and give future generations a fighting chance.

It throws light on the fact that while saving natural habitats is essential, protecting the threatened species that depend on them is equally imperative. There are more than 31,000 species that fall within the three extinction-risk categories that these nine funders will work to protect over a period of five years, shared the Rainforest Trust. The Bezos Earth Fund, chaired by Jeff Bezos and Vice Chair Lauren Sánchez, previously made an environmental commitment of $10 billion, of which $2 billion was dedicated to conserving and restoring nature. In addition to the New Species Recovery Alliance, the Bezos Earth Fund has also joined hands with Re:wild, pledging a $100 million commitment to the Phoenix Species Project, a separate initiative launched with Leonardo DiCaprio in August 2026.

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Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez and Cristián Samper

Poison-Dart-Frog — The vividly colored harlequin poison dart frog is among the world’s critically endangered species, underscoring the urgency behind the $500 million commitment to preventing extinctions and restoring threatened wildlife populations.

With the Species Recovery Alliance, funders are not just bringing financial might to the table but also pooling their expertise, and working closely with local partners to support effective recovery actions at the scale and over the timeframes needed to achieve measurable results. Voiceless animals, from the critically endangered harlequin poison dart frog to the endangered golden lion tamarin and the vulnerable lowland tapir, illustrate the wildlife at stake and the urgent need to give threatened species a hopeful second chance at life on Earth.

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Amazon jungle — From above, the rainforest appears to be an endless sea of green, but protecting these lush habitats alone is not enough. The Species Recovery Alliance aims to ensure the endangered wildlife that calls them home also gets a fighting chance.From above, the rainforest appears to be an endless sea of green, but protecting these lush habitats alone is not enough. The Species Recovery Alliance aims to ensure the endangered wildlife that calls them home also gets a fighting chance.

An astronaut floats above Earth during a spacewalk. Remarkably, more people have ventured outside spacecraft than there are surviving members of some of the world’s most endangered species, a crisis Jeff Bezos’s Earth Fund and eight other organizations hope to address.

As Cristián Samper, Managing Director and Leader of Nature Solutions at the Bezos Earth Fund, aptly stated, “Protected areas alone cannot save every endangered species.” With the backing of the Bezos Earth Fund and these philanthropic organizations, even the world’s most endangered species, some with fewer than 50 surviving individuals left on Earth, may finally have hope.

Note – According to the BBC, 260 astronauts have walked in space as of this writing.

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