Our Mission
The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation is dedicated to the long-term health and wellbeing of all Earth’s inhabitants. Through collaborative partnerships, we support innovative projects that protect vulnerable wildlife from extinction, while restoring balance to threatened ecosystems and communities. LDF's grantmaking program encompasses six focus areas:
- year founded
1998
- projects funded
200+
- grants awarded
$100m
- organizations supported
132
- countries
50
- oceans
5
Watch the LDF video
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“Clean air, water, and a livable climate are inalienable human rights. And solving this crisis is not a question of politics, it is a question of our own survival.”
Leonardo DiCaprio -
“In a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources, and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy, and peace.”
Wangari Maathai -
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together… all things connect.”
Chief Seattle
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NewsLDF Hosts 20th Anniversary Celebration, surpasses $100 million in total grant making
LDF hosted a 20th Anniversary Celebration to raise funds for its global environmental efforts to address climate change and protect biodiversity.
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NewsLDF honors Amazon Frontlines and Ceibo Alliance with Environmental Activist Award
LDF is proud to honor Amazon Frontlines and Ceibo Alliance with the first annual Environmental Activist Award that celebrates environmental groups whose work has created significant, positive impact in their field of focus.
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NewsMissing Pathways to 1.5°C are dependent on forests and land
The role of the land sector in ambitious climate action.
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NewsThe latest climate science must mobilize us, not paralyze us
The long-awaited new IPCC report makes for grim reading: To avoid severe economic and social shocks and protect essential ecosystems, we urgently need to limit the increase in global temperature to within 1.5° C. But how?
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NewsDeforestation is tearing through our carbon budget
To stay below 1.5°, keep the forest standing.
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NewsProtection of primary forests is priority, but reforestation is also crucial
A new international study shows that secondary forests remain species and carbon-poor compared to undisturbed primary forests.
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NewsOne-third of the world’s protected areas are threatened by ‘intense’ human pressure
A new study finds that a full third of protected areas have been converted for human use or are facing major pressures from development. It’s clear governments need to do more to protect vulnerable ecosystems.
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NewsNo time for false saviours
Burning forests won’t help us out of the climate crisis. Restoring them will.
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NewsA message from Amazon leaders to world leaders
Indigenous leaders from across the Amazon Basin released a declaration calling for the consolidation of the biggest environmental and cultural corridor in the world to unite protected areas with indigenous territories, recover degraded areas and promote the sustainable use of the forest.
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NewsLandscapes are the operable unit for large-scale land conservation
A new national report - Pathways to Progress - details how people can work together to conserve nature across societal and geographic divides.
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NewsGlobal Forest Loss - Who’s in the driver’s seat?
There are many different reasons why forests are declining, some of them are natural but most of them are man-made.
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News1.5C is possible but only if we radically scale natural climate solutions
A recent scientific assessment tells us we can still reach the goals of the Paris Agreement. Good news: our greater ‘ambition’ to combat climate change should give us more of what we want anyway.
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NewsLDF Executive Director Justin Winters introduces One Earth at Bioneers
One Earth, an initiative of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, has developed a bold, new plan to avert a climate crisis and protect our biosphere. Justin Winters explains the three OE goals humanity needs to achieve by 2050.
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NewsMore than USD1 billion per year needed to secure Africa’s protected areas with lions
Investing in Africa’s parks and reserves could save Africa’s lions, benefit people and secure priceless global assets.
