It’s only been one week since 2022 started and it seems this is already Leonardo Dicaprio’s year. Not only has he received great critics for his latest film Don’t Look Up (which is about to become the most seen Netflix’s original movie ever), but he’s also now been recognized for his environmental work by scientists who decided to name a new species of a tree after him.
For the past couple of decades, Leonardo Dicaprio has become one of Hollywood’s most renowned environmentalists and activists. He’s been very vocal about the climate crisis and the conservation of the environment and its flora and fauna species.
The Uvariopsis dicaprio tree
Well, those efforts have been recognized by scientists of the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew in London who decided to honor the actor for his activist work by naming this new species of tree ‘Uvariosis dicaprio.’
Although the Uvariopsis dicaprio is a recently discovered species, the endemic tree from Cameroon has already a status of “critically endangered.” The small tropical tree comes from the family of the ylang-ylang, and its characterized for having gorgeous glossy yellow flowers on its trunk.
Why Leonardo Dicaprio?
According to the Kew scientists, they decided to honor Dicaprio for his efforts in preventing the opening of the Ebo Forest for logging: “We think he was crucial in helping to stop the logging of the Ebo Forest.” When the news about the government’s intentions to open up the forest for logging was announced, many activists decided to get active to prevent it. Leonardo Dicaprio was one of them, being quite active on social media to raise awareness about the issue.
The Ebo Forest had been a relatively untouched rainforest in Africa and is still home to the Banen people. Not only that, this rainforest is home to many unique species of plants and animals, including gorillas, chimps, and elephants, all of them in great extinction danger. When Dicaprio started talking about the matter, his campaign became viral, and even documents were sent to the governments to stop the initiative. All those efforts worked out, and the Cameroonian government agreed to stop their logging plans and make the Ebo Forest a national park.
This is only one of the biggest victories Dicaprio has had in his activism, since according to the scientists, “there are still thousands of plant species and maybe millions of fungal species out there that we don’t know about.” Saving the Ebo Forest could be the first step to get to know much more about the many unknown species the region holds but also to raise awareness about our planet’s environment.
Photos from Shutterstock / PeerJ