DiCaprio donates $15m to environmental groups

American actor and film producer Leonardo DiCaprio has pledged $15 million (£10m) to a range of environmental causes through his foundation, according to a statement on Tuesday.

The donations will be made to groups including Amazon Watch, Save the Elephants, Tree People and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

DiCaprio said in a statement: “The destruction of our planet continues at a pace we can no longer afford to ignore. We have a responsibility to innovate a future where the habitability of our planet does not come at the expense of those who inhabit it.”

The 40-year-old actor created the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998 to fund environmental protection efforts and it now supports projects in more than 40 countries worldwide.

DiCaprio was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace with a special focus on climate change in 2014.

Speaking at the UN Climate Summit in New York in September DiCaprio said: “This disaster has grown beyond the choices that individuals make. This is now about our industries and governments…The destruction of our planet continues at a pace we can no longer afford to ignore…We have a responsibility to innovate a future where the habitability of our planet does not come at the expense of those who inhabit it. I am proud to support these organizations who are working to solve humankind's greatest challenge."

The Wolf of Wall Street star’s environmental efforts have a strong focus on protectionof wildlife and endangered species and he was executive producer of last year's Oscar-nominated documentary Virunga about conservation efforts to save endangered gorillas in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In 2013, the foundation donated $3 million to WWF to protect endangered tigers in Nepal.

Other organisations to receive support from the actor’s foundation include Oceans 5, California Wolf Center, Dark Snow, which measures Arctic melting, and Digital Democracy, which helps indigenous communities use technology to protect the Amazon.