Five million dollars has been pledged in an emergency fund to help fight the fires raging through Brazil's Amazon rainforest by Earth Alliance, an organization launched last month by actor Leonardo DiCaprio, The Hill reported on Sunday.
DiCaprio started the environmental group with philanthropists Laurene Powell Jobs and Brian Sheth.
Earth Alliance vowed on its website that one hundred percent of donations will go toward protecting the Amazon.
The website said the fires are due to “an unprecedented surge in deforestation, which leads to a drier overall region.”
The site explained that “this means less rain and dry grasslands that, once they start burning, result in fires that are nearly impossible to control."
Earth Alliance also warned that “the destruction of the Amazon rainforest is rapidly releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, destroying an ecosystem that absorbs millions of tons of carbon emissions every year and is one of the planet’s best defense against the climate crisis.”
Activists contend that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has contributed to the crisis by policies that have eliminated environmental protections, according to The Hill.
Bolsonaro has rejected this criticism.
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