Leonardo DiCaprio on Importance of Amazon Culture

Leonardo DiCaprio has always been an outspoken environmental ally

The NGO co-founded by Leonardo DiCaprio will make a $5 million donation to indigenous tribes of the Amazon and local partners, as the region faces major fires.

“There’s a major tragedy going on in the world, worldwide because of climate change, forest fires, and what's going on in the Amazon, which is really the lungs of the earth is vital to protecting us in the future. I stayed with the Xingu tribe there when I went and look, what's vital to protecting these forests, is to protect the indigenous cultures there. The people that are on the front lines protecting the forest are the locals and that's what Earth Alliance is committed to help fund, is those people on the ground that have been living and coexisting with these forests for generations. And they're the ones we need to support in this very turbulent time. Having been to the Amazon, having stayed there, and knowing not only the importance that it is for stabilizing climate, but the beauty of biodiversity and the cultures that live there, it's incredibly tragic. I think that I immediately felt depressed and I felt like a lot of people that I connected with wanted to take action so that's why Earth Alliance and myself and our partners, Laurene Jobs and Brian Sheth, wanted to make an immediate contribution to start the ball rolling and do something proactive in hopes that other people get involved too. We must protect this vital landscape. Not only is it home to so much amazing biodiversity, but it's really the lungs of the planet like I said and the governments around the world, including Brazil, need to work together to make sure this doesn't continue. It's a tragedy,” actor/activist Leonardo DiCaprio pleads.

Leonardo DiCaprio has always been an outspoken environmental activist and conservationist—and now, he is helping to lead the fight against the wildfires raging through the Amazon rainforest. While wildfires in the Amazon are not uncommon, there has been an increase of 32,000 blazes recorded in Brazil this year compared to the same time in 2018. The week of Leo’s pledge, there have been about 9,000 fires recorded throughout the region. That’s why the Hollywood actor is contributing $5 million to the Amazon Forest Fund: an emergency response fund created by the Earth Alliance earlier in the week.

Brut.