Leonardo DiCaprio, Christie's Joining Forces for Auction Benefiting Environment

Actor is rallying some of today's most revered artists to support efforts to sustain wild habitats

Leonardo DiCaprio is once again doing his part for the environment.

The Great Gatsby star is teaming up with Christie's for a charity auction that will put works from some of today's most esteemed contemporary artists under the hammer in order to raise upwards of $18 million to benefit conservation programs, including endangered-species protection. 

The fund-raiser, dubbed The 11th Hour Auction, will take place on Monday, according to Reuters, and feature works by such artists as Banksy, Robert Longo, Peter Beard, Elizabeth Peyton, Ed Ruscha and Julian Schnabel.

Among the sale's most prized paintings are Zeng Fanzhi's "The Tiger," an oil on canvas; Mark Grotjahn's "Untitled (Standard Lotus No. 11, Bird of Paradise, Tiger Mouth 44.01)," an oil on cardboard mounted on canvas; and Bharti Kher's "The Skin Speaks a Language Not Its Own," a work on fiberglass.

DiCaprio himself is donating "Ocean V" by Andreas Gursky to the auction, which has been in the planning stages for a year and is said be the biggest ever of its kind to benefit protecting Mother Earth.

"Nature is abundant and it is resilient, but we have to take action now to protect our planet before it is too late," said the thesp in a statement.

DiCaprio has long been active in environmental causes, executive-producing and narrating the 2007 feature documentary The 11th Hour and raising awareness to save the habitat of brink-of-extinction tigers.

His charity, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, will work with a panel of environmental experts to decide which conservation projects will benefit from the proceeds of the sale.