It’s sunk in for everyone now just how devastating the forest fires in the Amazon are. Hollywood’s Leonardo DiCaprio is on the case, launching an emergency charity and getting the ball rolling with a big donation.
The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest and is frequently dubbed as “the world’s lungs” as it produces around 20% of all breathable oxygen on our planet.
Burning now at the highest rate since 2013, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research has estimated more than one-and-a-half soccer fields’ worth of Amazon rainforest is being burned down every minute of every day.
Leonardo DiCaprio, full time actor and part time activist and his charitable organisation Earth Alliance has announced a new emergency Amazon Forest Fund which has committed an initial U.S. $5 million.
#EarthAlliance has formed an emergency Amazon Forest Fund with $5m to focus critical resources for indigenous communities and other local partners working to protect the biodiversity of the Amazon against the surge of fires. Learn more & donate: https://t.co/uG2WoEoKqx pic.twitter.com/IbcubQCO4v
— Earth Alliance (@earthalliance) August 25, 2019
Earth Alliance announced that its emergency fund will be shared out between five local organisations that are “combating the fires, protecting indigenous lands, and providing relief to the communities impacted.”
They are: Instituto Associacao Floresta Protegida (Kayapo), Coordination of the Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), Instituto Kabu (Kayapo), Instituto Raoni (Kayapo) and Instituto Socioambiental (ISA).
Partly due to relaxed legislation around deforestation fines in Brazil, the fires have said to have been caused by large-scale cattle operations and feed crops, burning down trees to make room for other ventures.
As deforestation continues, the region gets drier, which perpetually fuels the fires even more.
DiCaprio’s had years of involvement in activism on the climate issue. His eponymous foundation merged with the Earth Alliance recently as to “help address the urgent threats to our planet’s life support systems.”
“Since its founding in 1998, LDF has provided more than $100 million in grants to projects in all five oceans and across all seven continents,” a July press release said.
You can donate to, and read more about the Amazon Forest Fund here.
