Famous Hollywood actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio congratulates this Saturday the government of Guillermo Lasso on the inauguration of a new marine reserve which in fact expands the protected area around the Galapagos Islands.

“Congratulations to Ecuador. Today, President Guillermo Lasso is expanding marine protection around the Galapagos Islands. This new area protects wildlife in the Marine Corridor that connects the Galapagos Marine Reserve and the recently expanded nature reserve in Costa Rica.”, wrote the protagonist of Giant on his Twitter account.

Ecuador inaugurated on Friday a large nature reserve around the Galapagos in a ceremony in the waters of the archipelago and with the participation of international leaders who want to support a decision that represents another step in establishing the largest marine protected area on the planet.

The meeting attended by the president of Colombia, Ivan the Duke; former president of america Bill Clinton and high-level delegations from Costa Rica and Panama, taking place aboard the Sierra Negra, anchored in the bay of Puerto Ayora, on the island of Santa Cruz.

“Protected oceans will protect us from climate change”, said the President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, after signing an executive decree formalizing the creation of a new nature reserve covering 60,000 square kilometers, which will be added to an existing protected area of ​​138,000.

The government of Ecuador considers a “milestone” decisions, announced in November at the COP26 climate summit held in Glasgow (United Kingdom), and which is part of “the largest debt-for-conservation swap in the world,” Lasso explained at the time.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s history of supporting environmental conservation in Ecuador is not new. In June 2019, the American actor, producer and environmental activist shocked public opinion by showing his international support for the campaign promoted by the Waorani indigenous people. which seeks to prohibit oil exploitation in block 22, in the Ecuadorian Amazon forest.

A year later, on July 30, 2020, The actor spoke about the presence of a fleet of fishing vessels on the borders of the exclusive economic zone of the Galapagos Islands. On his Instagram account, DiCaprio assures that “Chinese fishing boats arrive every year in the sea around the Galapagos, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1978, but this year’s fleet is one of the most beautiful sights in recent years.”

The actor met, on March 13, 2021, behind closed doors with former President Lenín Moreno on Baltra Island in the Galapagos Islands, to discuss some elements of environmental policy in Ecuador.. The actor who is also an ambassador for the United Nations (UN) was present accompanied by other international environmental activists.

Leonardo Dicaprio also participated in the recovery initiative for the Galapagos Islands in May 2021 with an investment of USD 40,000,000.00 to reintroduce endangered species. In addition, he also congratulated the Ecuadorian government’s initiative to create a new marine reserve for the archipelago.

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