UN names actor Edward Norton as celebrity advocate for preserving biodiversity

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, designated the acclaimed actor and conservation activist, Edward Norton, as the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity, on 8 July 2010 – the International Year of Biodiversity

In an interview with the UN News Centre Norton said: “I think that [Goodwill] Ambassadors in many ways can play a role in highlighting the models of success that the UN is promoting around the world.”

Norton will work with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), using his celebrity status to raise awareness of the CBD’s activities and to spotlight the “crisis of biodiversity”.

At a press conference in New York, Norton said: “When people look back on this era that we’re living in, they will not assess many of the things that we consider political hot buttons of the day. They will assess this era based on how we responded to this particular crisis (of biodiversity loss),”

Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the CBD, who attended the press conference along with Mr. Norton, said: “We are reaching a tipping point where irreversible damage is going to be done and therefore we need an urgent call for action.”

Djoghlaf said that the UN could not have chosen a better supporter than Norton to highlight this cause. “We could not have chosen a better advocate, a better ambassador than someone who is taking action, not only through statements and speeches, but doing it in reality,” he said.

The actor’s family has a history of involvement in sustainable development. He is a board member of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, he took part in the launch of a social networking platform, Crowdrise, which assists people to volunteer time and skills or raise money for charitable causes, and he ran the New York City Marathon in 2009 to raise funds for local communities in Kenya.

Read the press release from the UN News Centre website.