Leonardo DiCaprio's Environmental Organization Donates $3 Million to Australian Wildfire Relief Efforts

Leonardo DiCaprio Attends Movie Premiere With His Dad
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The Oscar winner's environmental organization Earth Alliance has established the Australia Wildfire Fund.

Leonardo DiCaprio is putting up even more money to combat devastating wildfires.

The Oscar winner, through his recently established environmental organization Earth Alliance, announced the launch of the Australia Wildfire Fund, and pledged $3 million to the cause.

Earth Alliance -- which is chaired by the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actor, as well as philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs and billionaire Brian Sheth -- has established the fund in response to the devastating bush fires that are ravaging the continent.

According to current estimates, the Australian wildfires have burned over 41,000 square miles, killed 28 people, over 800 million animals and destroyed over 2,200 homes during this particularly devastating bushfire season.

According to Earth Alliance, "All funds will go to assist critical firefighting efforts in New South Wales, aid local communities most affected by the wildfires, enable wildlife rescue and recovery, and support the long-term restoration of unique ecosystems."

The organization will be working closely with partner groups in Australia dealing with the catastrophic blaze, including WIRES Wildlife Rescue, Aussie Ark and Bush Heritage.

This is not the first cataclysmic natural disaster DiCaprio's Earth Alliance has addressed in less than a year. The organization previously established the Amazon Forest Fund back in August, which sought to raise money to combat the raging fires tearing through the Amazon rainforest.

Meanwhile, DiCaprio himself has been busy saving people in an even more direct way. Days before ringing in the New Year, DiCaprio rescued a man who'd fallen overboard off of a cruise ship and had been lost at sea in the Caribbean, a source told ET on Wednesday.

DiCaprio was vacationing on a boat nearby, with girlfriend Camila Morrone, when the crew heard the distress call and they all went to search for the missing man.

"They were the only responders there looking for him, hours away, in the middle of the ocean," the source says, adding that the 24-year-old French man whom they rescued had been treading water for nearly 11 hours. "Everyone on board was looking for him in rough water. The man was waving his hand and was found an hour before it got dark."

Check out the video below for more on the heartbreaking Australian wildfires and the stars who are trying to help.

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